By Blood
by EllieMayy
Summary: The limo pulled up to the shipyard and even though darkened windows, I could see the roaring crowds and clamoring journalists. But I didn't want this. I hadn't asked for this. All I wanted was Eugene Sledge, and the future he promised me. Sid/OC/Eugene
1. A threesome of seperation

Tallulah Kendall Adams had been told from a very young age that she would marry Eugene Bondurant Sledge when she reached the appropriate age. Both her mother and Eugene's had been great family friends, and as soon as both children were born, hand begun planning a lavish Southern wedding for both children, born into the Alabama elite. Tallulah met Eugene when she was only two, as their mothers began setting them up for play dates around the ground of Eugene's Georgia cottage. By the age of five, Eugene had decided that Tallulah Adams was the girl for him, and had proclaimed it to her. However, independent Tallulah had merely sighed at his efforts, and smacked him on the head.

At the age of eight, Tallulah had begun going to school, while a sickly Eugene was left at home to be taught by private tutors and his mother. When both children were around ten, Eugene and Tallulah officially proclaimed their hate for each other when their parents found them in a knock down drag out brawl in the back yard. The years growing up together had exposed them both to each other's company too much, and Eugene decided it was time for a new best friend- Sidney Phillips.

Eugene and Tallulah didn't see each other in the years of junior high, but in high school they reunited, and became close friends again. As a junior he took her to Prom, and escorted her when she was selected for the homecoming court. By the end of junior year the two were going steady, and were an admirable couple at Murphy High School.

x.x.x.x.x

"You going to church tomorrow and askin' forgiveness for this?"  
His voice was hot and heavy in her ear, and she snarled up at him.  
"Your heart gonna hold out?" She retorted, her voice carrying over the preditorial growl that was rumbling deep in his throat.  
He bit her ear, his teeth clamping down on the flesh in reprimand. "You'll pay for that." He growled, "Big time." His body thrust up against her forcefully, and his hands steadied her as they both toppled back into the deep, verdant grass.

The trees were laden with fruitful blossoms and were so weighted down by the flowers that normally strong branches sagged to the ground. Her red hair spread out against the grass, and it's vibrant green hue only helped to accentuate the fiery locks. Petals were continually blown down from the impregnated trees and they twisted themselves into the tangles of her crimson hair, and landed softly against Eugene's shirt. He fingered the collar of her dress, and she felt mischievous hands slide under the fabric and creep up to cup her breasts.

"Tallulah!" He breathed, as she noticed the slight trembling of his hands.  
"Eugene…" She whispered back, as she felt his lips press lightly to hers, as her arms lifted instinctually, ready to be unhindered by her gingham dress. Easily, he obliged her, pulling the dress over her head and tossing it aside as his wide eyes took in Tallulah's newly exposed body. The pink petals drifted down lazily in the late afternoon breeze and suddenly she was dusted with the airy blossoms that sparkled in the iridescent light. "You're beautiful." He breathed, his eyes obviously scanning from her full breasts to her piquant hips that he held with his two shaking hands.  
Tallulah kissed his cheek as she began slyly undoing the buttons on the front of his shirt. "You should have been able to tell that before I took my clothes off." She chided playfully as she finished undoing the last button on his shirt. He shrugged off his white cotton shirt, unveiling a strong, marble chest that hid the deceptively weak heart underneath. The undressing was growing, and by the second both were becoming more and more scantily clad as the stripping continued. She reached for his pants, and he reached for her lacy black bra. Soon enough, he had Tallulah stripped of all clothing and after a while she had him naked as well. Her rich, scarlet hair covered her breasts, and Eugene pushed the hair back into the grassy folds, wanting to see all he possibly could.

"Are you going to church to repent?" Tallulah purred sinfully, as his rough hands slid against her sides, making her shiver. He laughed and they rolled around in the grass for a few more moments, the little blades tickling their bodies.  
"Probably not…" He uttered as he let more weights come down upon her, and she moaned at the compressing pressure, a hot desirous breath escaping from her mouth.  
The sound only seemed to drive him wilder as his lips brazenly explored places of her body Tallulah hadn't known previously existed. She stared up at his dark gaze, which was more intent than she'd ever see, and in the corners of her focus she could see the trees scattering more petal on them. She felt the blades of grass brushing against her bare back. She felt his fingers rubbing and stroking her, and she blushed and giggled with wanton delight s waves of novel pleasure rolled down her spine. Eugene grinned at her, before forcefully pressing their lips together, and she felt his tongue enter her mouth, a prelude of was inevitably to come. He was obviously proud of the pleasure he was able to bring her. But soon, his mere fingers did not satisfy Tallulah. As she saw the dying light streak across his sculpted chest she was filled with a renewed sense of urgency that came only from knowing that time was fast approaching.

"Eugene!" She pleaded, "Please…"  
He swallowed hard, and again she could feel the trembling in his hands as he shifted and reached to adjust himself.  
"I love you Tal…" He murmured, his hands gripping her shoulders tightly. She began to feel his grasp compressing as his loins were pulled tighter to hers. She whimpered a little, when she felt the astonishingly tight pressure, but the sweet sound of his comforting words, and the reassuring strokes of his hands helped her relax. And out of the beginning pain came the most pleasurable rhythm, as their bodies began finding their pace. He was breathing hard, as he clung to her shoulders, and the thrusting she felt, became more enjoyable by the second. Her nails dug deep into his bare back, as she felt her back arching and nearing some wild abandon of pleasure and affection.

"Oh Eugene!" She screamed, not able to control the pitch of her voice. His hands and stopped shaking and in the illuminated glow of the orange sunlight, she saw confidence deep within his gaze as he continued to push into her. Her hands grabbed on to and pulled at everything from the green grass to his coppery locks, as she felt herself being overtaken by a desirous flood, while he pressed harder. The grass caressed her back and his fingers swept lovingly through her hair, as she took a much needed breath and noticed the sweet scent of wisteria floating in the evening air. There was a sudden gust in the breeze, and Tallulah felt a rush, both inside and out. Shaking he collapsed upon her, pressing kisses everywhere his searching lips could reach, as she trailed tracing fingers up and down his strong back. The evening sunlight had set his eyes ablaze and he looked at her with conviction. His fingers threaded through her hair, which was littered with fallen blossoms.

"I love you Tallulah." He vowed as his lips once again found hers, and she felt his tongue dancing, begging for entry.  
"I love you too Eugene. And I'll miss you."  
Suddenly, he flipped their bodies over, and Tallulah found herself resting in the grass with her head on his chest.  
The only sound that could be hear was the rustle of the wind though the tall grass and the slight sway of old oak branches. But Tallulah pressed her eat harder against his chest and listed to the rhythmic sound of his heart.  
Currently, she didn't hear the infamous murmur that would have kept him out of the war.  
His final physical was tomorrow, and she prayed to God the doctors would hear it.

1 year later

"That's nice Essie Jo!" The photographer praised as Tallulah's legs spread out brazenly over the hood of the bright red Chevy convertible. She closed her eyes momentarily and listed to the well known count.  
"3.2.1." Her emerald eyes shot open, her pupils looking innocent, dilated from the bright flashes of the camera. "Show me a bit more Essie."  
She sighed and changed her pose, crossing her legs modestly, as if it would actually compensate for her ridiculously short skirt. More flashes and snapping came from the cameras as Essie plastered a sugary smile to her fire hydrant red lips, and more follow when she pressed a provocative finger to her cheek, and her lips in practiced fashion shifted to the side. She looked down at the glinting hood of the shiny red car and then looked at the golden shade of her legs against the red. Her muscles flexed against the shimmery paint of t car, and the count began again.

"And another Essie Jo?"  
She glanced up at the photographers, a hand running daringly up her silky legs. She drew her lips into a promiscuous pucker and raised her hand to blow a succulent smooch to the adorning camera.  
"That's exactly what I want Essie!" The photographer encouraged, peering through the lens. "Gimme one more." Essie exaggeratedly puckered her lips again, feeling the slick of her red lipstick. A final flash shot though the room as she braced against the brightness.  
"That's it Miss Adams!" The photographer concluded, giving her a thumbs up.

Smiling, she hopped off the car, her heels clicking against the tile floor or the studio. The shoot supervisor put an arm around her, and let her off set, as another girl took to the stage.  
"Essie Jo Adams…" Frank stammered, "Those pictures will be on the covers this month, along with a six page spread." She smiled at the news, thinking about the extra money she received if her shots were the featured covers.  
"You think they're good enough?"  
He whistled at her. "No point being modest with me, Miss Adam. You're a bombshell."  
She flashed him her cover smile, he didn't deserve one that actually meant something. "Thank you. I appreciate it."  
He prodded her shoulder as she watched another girl climb onto the Chevy. She watched the body motions of the girl, and Frank glanced down at her.  
"She's nervous."  
Her eyes flashed angrily back towards Frank. "Maybel just got here a week ago! She's exposing herself like no modest, decent girl should."  
"But she's doing it."  
She shot him a knowing glare as her emerald eyes flickered back out towards the set, as the new girl attempted to showcase her legs.  
"Doesn't mean she wants to."

Frank smirked and looked out over the glistening set, and the line of beautiful girls lined up to pose with the new, shiny car. There would be more shoots tomorrow, dresses and lingerie were coming in. this was his empire. The job every man in the world wanted to have and couldn't. He watched beautiful woman and girls boldly flaunt their assets in scanty underwear or revealing dresses. He drove fancy cars and boats to the shoots, and drank fancy champagne that the woman modeled with.

She glared up at him again, as his eyes came back into focus. "I'm heading back to my apartment… what time did you want me to shoot tomorrow?"  
He stared down at the crown jewel of The Esquire Magazine. "We're going to shoot on the ship around 11. Come there ready to shoot in the bikinis…"  
She nodded, and shrugged on her robe which she cinched around her waist, saying nothing.  
He turned back to her. "Your suit came in today, the nautical themed two piece with the sailor hat? I had it shipped to your apartment… I need you in that suit tomorrow, and down by the boat by 11."  
She pulled the robe tighter around her, and pushed open the door, ignoring Frank as she listened to the smart smack of her heels against the marble floor.

The limousine was already idling right outside the door, and a porter quickly rushed forward to open the door for her.  
"Evening Miss Essie Jo." She glanced up at him surprised. She was always constantly surprised when someone called her by her stage name, instead of her real name, Tallulah. Most girls had a show name, the agency had told her it was for her own protection to obscure part of her name. Some of the models took weeks deciding on their published name, wondering what actually represented them best, deliberating over which name captured their persona. However, uncaringly, Tallulah decided to draw a random name out of a hat, and by some stroke of fate, she'd drawn the name Essie Jo.

"Evening Davy." Tallulah returned warmly, with more enthusiasm that she actually felt.  
The young man blushed and opened the door, offering her his hand as she stepped inside the fancy limo.  
"Good day of shooting?" he inquired kindly.  
She gave him a tired smile as she spread her robe out across the seat. "Yes, shoot was good today…"  
Again he nodded and the small flushed returned to his boyish face. "Excellent."  
She shot him a final smile as he closed the door before her eyes met the gaze of the driver in the rearview mirror.  
"Back to Upper East Side mam?"  
She nodded, "yes, please."  
The driver revved the gas but Tallulah placed her hand up restraining, "Driver!" He glanced back at her, "mam?"  
She dug a twenty dollar bill out of her golden clutch purse and tapped on the darkened window. Surprised, Davy opened the door, a curious look on his face. "Why yes Miss Adams?"  
Tallulah grinned at him and stuck her hand out the window, flicking her fingers towards him to reveal the money held between her middle and index fingers. "For your troubles…" She told him, forcing the money into his hands.  
He gaped at her, shaking his head, refusing to collect the offered cash. "Oh no Miss Adams."  
She pointed towards the road, signaling the driver forward. "Evening Davy." Tallulah called, as the car pulled away from the curb.  
x.x.x.x  
Tallulah stuck a glistening leg outside the car as a butler opened the door, her red robe falling to cover her legs.  
"Evening Miss Adam."  
Tallulah smiled at him and pressed a small tip into his hands. "Good night Richard."  
"What time tomorrow Miss Adams?"  
Tallulah glanced back at the drive while she fiddled with the keys to the apartment building.  
"Oh, I think 10 would be fine."  
"Ten sharp it is Miss Essie Jo."  
Again, Tallulah tired not to look shocked when she heard her stage name; she would never get used to it.  
She wriggled the key in the hole and ambled towards the elevator pushing the button that would take her to the top floor of the 15 story building.

Once arrived on the 15th floor of the building, Tallulah thrust they key into another lock, and shouldered in her door.  
Her apartment was luxuriously furnished and impeccably decorated. Her walls were painted a shade of deep red, the color of movie curtains. Her own curtains that blew from her open window were lacy and white, as was her huge, puffy comforter that lay on her large bed, adorned with an excess of decorative pillows. Her red walls were littered with large bold posters of herself, Essie Jo Adams, that her agents had hung up against her will. In the posters Essie Jo clung to handsome men, posed with shiny new cars, and lounged around in exotic locals. The big block print proclaimed the name of the blonde darling whose tanned and slender legs sprawled out in the sand while palm frond blew over her voluptuous curls. In a different poster, the woman stood proudly on the deck of a battleship, in a mock sailor outfit, outfitted in a tiny white shirt. She had one of her perfect legs hiked up on the grey railing, while she smiled smugly at the camera, her hand lifted in a perky salute. In another poster, the giggling blonde sat atop cut out foam block that proclaimed her name, "Essie Jo Adams," as she winked cutely as the camera. Her pointed toes with brightly painted pink nails sat atop the letter 'e,' and a finger was pressed provokingly to her cheek.

Tallulah's emerald eyes shifted away from her posters as she collapsed upon her fluffy bed. Twelve months ago she couldn't have dreamed this is what her life would have become. She had been 17 when Eugene had left for bootcamp. She was supposed to have married him right when he'd come home from the war. But he'd been so spurred on by duty, it had left her forgotten in the mix and excitement.  
She wasn't supposed to be posing for Esquire magazine- she was supposed to be dressing nicely for him.  
She wasn't supposed to be eating dinner out every night with handsome, famous men- she was supposed to be making dinner for Eugene.  
She wasn't supposed to be riding in fancy cars- she was supposed to be riding in the passenger seat of his rumbleseat.  
Tallulah sighed heavily, in fact, she wasn't even supposed to be single. She was supposed to be engaged. She was supposed to be his wife.  
She lit a cigarette and lifted the addictive roll to her lips, savoring the hot tobacco smoke.  
Moaning slightly, Tallulah fell back on her thousands of decorative pillows and the recline forced the smoke from her mouth, appearing above her in a murky cloud that twisted into oblivion.  
She closed her eyes, feeling her cakey eyeliner smudge as she did so, and settled into an restless sleep, the smoking cigarette still dangling from between her fingers.

x.x.x.x.x.  
Miles away, in a military camp at camp Pendleton, a red haired boy stared up at the roof of his camouflage tent, before his eyes rolled back into his head, unable to stay open any longer. His day of training had been exhausting.

x.x.x.x.x.  
And even further away, on some remote island named Cape Gloucester, a blonde boy blinked hard against the flashes that lit up the rainy jungle, tightly gripping his M1903 Springfield. There were rustles in the bushes, and the men beside him tensed, and readied their weapons. His blue eyes were wide open in the darkness, his pupils the size of saucers. He hadn't slept for three days, and he wouldn't sleep tonight. 


	2. USMC Poster Boy

**Thanks so much to Ber1719 for her awesome review. I'm so excited about this story and am hoping everyone who is reading love it. reviews make me smile :)**

Tallulah woke up the next morning to the sound of her turquoise telephone ringing and gyrating on it's hook. Moaning she picked up the phone and slammed it back down, as she pushed frizzy blonde curls out of her face.  
She flopped back onto the pillows and pulled the fluffy down comforter over her head.  
The phone rang again persistently, and Tallulah buried her head deep into her fluffy pillow, trying to block out the sound.  
Her mouth hung halfway open, and she realized with disgust that the cold spot on her pillow was actually her own drool.  
The phone began to ring again and Tallulah, growling angrily, jerked it off the hoof. "Dammit!" She screamed into the phone, as she tugged on the low neckline of her nightslip. "What the hell is it?"

Frank's voice greeted her on the other end. "Well if it isn't my morning glory! They always say models don't function in the morning…"  
Tallulah snorted, "And what do you want Frank? It's nine, and you said the shoot was at twelve."  
John laughed heartily, and Tallulah found the sound sickeningly annoying. "We've changed the shoot time to 11 my darling. It's high time hair and makeup got to you!"  
Snorting, she didn't reply, but simply hung up the phone as she heard a rap on the door.  
"Miss Adams?"  
There was yet another knock. "Miss Adams, it's hair and makeup!"  
Tallulah groaned and pushed herself out of her comfortable bed. "Yeah! Gimme a minute!" She yelled as she tossed clanking bottles of bourbon, under her bed along with her remaining stash of expensive vodka.  
She didn't even remember taking them out to drink last night. She didn't remember getting up and drinking.  
She shrugged, and continued to stuff the bottles deep into the dusty recessed under her bed, where she also stored her stash of cigarettes and Cognac. She rose from the floor, and brushed her hair out of her face while she tugged down her silky slip which was clinging to her thighs. "Come in!"

The door opened and in marched the drove of women that attended to hair and makeup. Tallulah couldn't think of a more awful career, except maybe her own.  
"Well good morning Miss Essie Jo!" The primary makeup artist greeted, Marion, greeted as she pulled open the curtain to reveal sunlight. "Are you ready?"  
She shot them a smile as she glanced out the window and squinted at the bright light. "Ready as I'll ever be…" She told them as a chorus of laughter erupted. The women led her to her very large bathroom and she sat down in the rotating salon chair. They spun the chair around to face the huge mirror on the wall, as she felt her hair being yanked in every direction by various hands.  
Rollers were pulled tighter and the curling irons hissed as they grew hotter while the curling continued.  
"Your hair is looking beautiful!" Carrie praised as she wrapped a platinum strand around a hot curler.

Tallulah smiled up at her, "Your hair would look amazing if you had ten people working on it and received frequent dye jobs!"  
There was another chorus of laughter as Marion approached, a large makeup brush coated with pale powder in her hands. "Time to pretty up that gorgeous face of yours!" She exclaimed excitedly as she dusted Tallulah's face with the powder, as the blonde's nose wrinkled in response.  
"Oh this is such a good color on you!" She exclaimed again, as she swiped more onto her cheeks. "You're looking beautiful."  
Tallulah closed her eyes as Marion approached with kohl eyeliner, and a small sigh escaped her.  
She really wanted her vodka.  
x.x.x.x.x  
In another half hour Tallulah was dressed in her shoot outfit. She was a revealing new swimsuit in two pieces. The top and bottom were blue and white in imitation of a sailor's outfit. Her blonde hair spun down her shoulders, and a read Navy captain's hat sat tipped cockily to the side atop her blonde curls. Her green eyes had been faintly outlined and her blonde lashes had been coated with rich, dark mascara. Her perfect pout was colored with bold red lipstick, just as her face had been with the pale powder. She shrugged on a cover up robe as she slipped her feet into little white shoes that showed off her blood red toenails. There was a knock on the door, and she nodded towards the beautification ladies.

"Thank you all." She told them, as she opened the door and nodded towards the drive who had come to escort her.  
"You're welcome!"

The driver opened the elevator door, and glanced towards her. "Looking wonderful, Miss Adams." She nodded her thanks, already sick of the praise as he led her down the stairs and opened the door to the limo.  
She placed a hand on her temple as the car door closed.  
"Am I shooting alone today?" She asked, hoping for the affirmative answer- sole shoots usually didn't last as long.  
From the review mirror the drive smile at her, oblivious to her foul mood. "Nope." He replied as he turned towards the Navy shipyard. "You're shooting with the legendary John Basilone."  
Groaning, she threw her head back into the leather seat. She didn't really want to waste her morning shooting with the Marine Corp's poster boy.  
The drive glanced back at her nervously and cringed. "Don't crush your curls Miss Adams!"  
Tallulah threw her head back harder into the seat.  
x.x.x.x  
The limo pulled up to the shipyard and even though her darkened windows, Tallulah could see the roaring of crowds and journalist. The car stopped and the door opened, and Tallulah emerged from the car, one perfect leg following another. There was clamoring as she appeared, although her gaze was shrouded by her large, stylish sunglasses.  
"Miss Adams, look here please?" A photographer pleaded. "Essie Jo!"  
Tallulah flashed them an unenthused smile as a reporter thrust a microphone under her mouth.  
"Miss Adams, Miss Adams, tell us what it is going to be like shooting with John Basilone?"

Tallulah shrugged and leaned into the mike. "I'm sure it's going to be lovely. She answered shooting the crowd a smile. "I mean, he is John Basilone!" There was laughter and applause from the crowd as she finished her statement, her chin rising as she turned away from the crowd with a trained wave.  
She was escorted by her bodyguards up to the deck of the ship where the shoot was taking place. She strutted up the gangplank, her robe blowing in the breeze as camera continued to flash around her. She walked across the deck until she could see the billowing and the handsome outline of a man in his finest dress blues.

Frank, who had been walking with Tallulah and her two bodyguards turned to the man in blue, and shook his hand. "John Basilone, I'm pleased to introduce you to the one and only Essie Jo Adams!"  
The handsome, dark soldier with tanned skin, and perfect muscular arms, turned to her and pressed a confident kiss into her cheek. "Miss Adams, I'm truly honored."  
Tallulah stared from his dark, glinting black eyes to his shining black hair. She returned his kiss with one of her own, plus an added embrace. "No sir Sergeant Basilone, it's my honor to meet you."

Chuckling, her ran a hand through his black hair as he was pushed onto the set, with the backdrop of the battleship's stern, the proudly flying flags waving in the distance. He gave her a confident wink as she let her robe droop, revealing her exposed body, only covered by her seductive sailor swimsuit. Grinning back at him, she adjusted her hat and stepped into his open arms as the camera began to flash.  
"I swear to you, this is the most hideously disrespectful outfit I've ever worn." Tallulah joked as she glanced up at him, her eyes noticing his strong jaw.  
He laughed, and pressed his hands tighter to her sides. "I find it quite becoming." He uttered playfully, as he wrapped his arms around her, waist and pulled her close.

"Atta boy John!" The photographer praised, as John lowered himself, while Tallulah puckered her lips for a staged kiss.  
"Nice Essie." Another photographer commented, "Gorgeous as ever."  
John nodded towards her, and gave her a friendly smile. "He's right, you're a breathtaking girl."  
She smiled at him, wordlessly conveying her thanks as she lifted a toned and bronzed leg for John to hold. "And you're obviously a very brave man."  
He snorted and large hands gripped her calve as if he were holding a gun. "How old are you kid?" John asked as he flashed her a sideways smile, all too aware of the perfect leg that lay in his grip.  
She gazed up at him, as she batted her eyelashes at him admiringly while the cameras continued to flash.  
"I'm 18." She replied as the photographer urged him to pick her up.  
"Sergeant Basilone, grab her curves and lift her into the air!"

Complying, John placed his hands firmly on her hips, and glanced down at her. "May I Essie Jo?"  
She nodded as the cameras kept on flashing, documented their every staged move. He lifted her in the air and twirling around they both faced the cameras as a gust of wind tossed Tallulah's blonde curls around, and the navy flags streamed out in the breeze.  
"Put her on your shoulders John!"  
Chuckling, John easily and effortlessly lifted her onto his strong shoulders, and she spread her tanned legs around his neck.  
"That's perfect you two! I wish she'd listen to me as well as she listened to you!"  
Tallulah growled at the photographer, while John grinned up at her from between the soft skin of her thighs. "So currently where we stand doll, is that my head is between your two legs…"  
Tallulah couldn't help but laugh as John pointed to the cameraman, "Hey, can I get some of these for personal records?  
Everyone laughed at the remark, as his dark, twinkling eyes gazed out at the camera. "Closer!" The photographer urged, "Lean down and kiss his head Essie…"

Tallulah did as commanded and pressed her painted red lips to his waves of dark hair, noting how soft it was.  
"Hair and makeup get to you too?" She joked, as the breath of her voice blew into his hair, and ruffled it.  
Her grinned up at her again, his eyes glancing as far upwards as they could. "Only a little Miss Adams!"  
She kicked him softly in reprimand wither little white heels. "Call me Essie." She demanded, as the cameras flashed on while her seized her calves in his strong grip once more, and she rested her arms playfully atop his head.  
"It would be my pleasure Essie."  
She gazed down at him again, her green eyes sparkling. "You married Sergeant?"  
He smirked up at her, "No 'mam. But as of this second, I would like to be."  
There was more laughing from the crowd as he lifted her off his shoulders and set her down, her cute white shoes hitting the grey deck.  
She gave him a kiss on the cheek as he lowered his hands to the small of her back.

When the shoot was officially over, Tallulah changed into her summery white dress with red polka dots that Frank had laid out. She pulled her twisted curls back into a bouncy ponytail so her hair wouldn't look so ridiculously styled. She pushed a pair of large, white sunglasses to her eyes, stifling a yawn.

She trudged out of her dressing room and past over various shoots that were underway. Girls posed with cars, beach balls and fake palm trees, while others frolicked in fake snow, already shooting a full six months ahead for Esquire's Christmas Edition.  
Tallulah walked on, her little white heels clicking against the floor. She reached the main door to the building and saw the cheering crowd full of men in uniform, while other admirers lined the stairs blocking her way back to the limo. A porter at the door smiled at her and tipped his floppy cap. "Miss Adams, would you like me to clear the crowd, or would you like me to pull the car around back?"  
Tallulah shot him a grateful glance, appreciative of his offers. "Thanks Louis, I'm going to sign some autographs this afternoon."  
Louis smiled at her and signaled for her bodyguards. "You're far too kind Miss Adams."

Truth was, if Tallulah had gotten her way, she'd not have been doing this- Frank told her to do this.  
She shook her head and proceeded out the door with her two huge bodyguards by her side. The screaming and cheering hurt her eats as she placed a foot at the top of the concrete stairs, and glanced down at the crowd. Hurriedly, she grabbed the first paper that was thrust towards her, and slashed her name across it, dotting the 'i' in Essie Jo with a heart.  
"Essie Jo!" A man called, holding out a small camera. "Please Essie!"  
Tallulah let her bodyguards part the crowd so she could make her way over to the man. She pressed closer to the soldier and smiled for his camera which clicked.  
"Thank you Miss Adams!" He exclaimed. "Thank you."  
She gave him a kindly smile, "Thank you for your service Soldier."  
She signed a few more papers and photographs, mindlessly scrawling 'love Essie Jo," on each one. Her bodyguards Lorenzo and Antonio gazed out cautiously at the crowd, their enormous bodies close to Tallulah's small frame. She posed for a few more photographs, and autographed a couple more papers, before turning to Lorenzo and Antonio.  
"I think I'm ready."

They nodded, and each took one of her arms and began to push through the crowd. They escorted her to the limo, and finally handed her off to John Basilone looking cautiously at him before they did so.  
"Thank you." Tallulah told them. "I'll see you tonight I suppose." They nodded stoically, and eyed John as he opened the door for her.  
Tallulah got into the limo, her ears ringing from the roaring applause, while John closed the door and entered on the other side. She waved as the car began to accelerate and John came a salute from the open window.  
The driver sped up and John rolled the windows up, as the light flashed off his medal of honor that hung around his neck.

Loyal guys." He noted, as he watched Antonio and Lorenzo fold their arms and gazed out over the crowd unwaveringly.  
She nodded, "They're the best. Really nice men."  
Tallulah glanced up at his medal, the glint attracting the focus of her emerald eyes. "How'd you get that?" She asked quietly, as he shifted in his seat. He stared up at the ceiling, his foot tapping up and down.  
"I shot a gun pretty well on Guadalcanal." He told her, shrugging nonchalantly. "I just did my job."  
She watched his knee bounce up and down. "It's only awarded for extreme bravery." She glanced at the points on his star. "I'm sure you deserved it." She said softly.  
He smiled thoughtfully at her. "I just did my job Miss Adams."  
Tallulah turned from the window to stare at him blankly. "Call me Tallulah." She demanded, her voice short as her eyes again fixated on his bright red sergeant strips. "My name's not Essie Jo. It's Tallulah Kendall Adams."  
John glanced over at her confusedly, "Tallulah? So what's Essie Jo?"  
Tallulah shook her head and rolled her eyes in annoyance. "A fake name. My stage name. They told me I had to pick one for security reasons."  
He stared over at her again, his eyes twinkling with amusement. "And why'd you pick that name? Mean something to ya?"  
Tallulah snorted with hilarity and shook her head. "Means nothing to me." She uttered, her eyes now staring dazedly out the window. "I drew it out of a hat."

He grinned and opened up his jacked, pulling out two cigarettes. "It's a good name." He assured her, flicking a cigarette towards her. "I can't tell you how many times I've heard the guys on the island say that name." He raised a provocative eyebrow, lowering his hands to his belt and instantly she knew what he meant; she blushed a little in response.  
He handed her the cigarette, "You smoke Ess- Tallulah?"  
She nodded emphatically, and took the smoke from him as he lit it for her. "I don't think I'd make it without it."  
John chuckled and produced a shining flash from beneath his dress blues. "You drink?"  
She laughed and thought of all the empty bottles of expensive alcohol, especially Vodka and Cognac, that were gathering dust under her bed. "Yeah." She admitted ashamedly, as he passed her the flask. She tilted the bottle upwards and felt the wonderfully stringent tingle of the harsh liquid.  
"Cognac." She breathed, sipping on the brandy. "A personal favorite." He laughed a little, and she savored the flavor of the liquor before passing it back to him.  
"I know, how bad can it be?" She mused sardonically, trying to guess his thoughts.  
"I'm sure it's not easy…" He nodded at her although she continued to look unconvinced at his understanding. "I wouldn't wanna put myself out there like that."

She snorted, and her snarl changed into a smile as she stared down at his medal of honor. "Sergeant, you've obviously put yourself out in mush more perilous situations."  
For the first time Tallulah glanced at the driver and wondered where she was headed. John seemed to sense her wonder and he pointed to the street. "You're heading back home for a while."  
She laughed at him, her red lips parting to reveal a pearly smile. 'Already memorized my schedule huh?"  
He chuckled and continued, "I'm having dinner at 6:30 at Lombardi's Pizza. It's been too long since I've had any true Italian food." He shot her a sideways grin. "It would please me greatly, and probably also Frank, if you joined me tonight…"  
She rolled her eyes as her limo pulled up to her luxurious apartment complex. "I'll go for you and only you Sergeant." She muttered stepping out of the car. "I hate Frank."

Laughing, John gave her a salute as she fumbled with her keys. She waved at him before unlocking her doors and arrive at her apartment. When she entered her room, she noticed it was far cleaner that it had been that morning. Obviously, the maids had come. She glanced at her vanity and saw a stack of mail sitting on the rich, dark wood. She sifted through the piles of fanmail until she spotted a letter sent from her mother. Curiously, she grabbed and ripped open the envelope.  
_  
Dear Tallulah,_  
_I hope this finds you well and happy in New York. I simply wanted to tell you that we've received the money back from the church, and your father insists you have it. I haven't returned the wedding dress yet, and won't be able to because Mrs. Sledge and I had it made custom. The little cottage we purchased for you and Eugene is being put back on the market, along with the new car Dr. Sledge bought. Tal, I know this is all horribly hard, but the boy isn't simply isn't ready, and can't see past the next day in training, or the call of duty. Hopefully, when he returns he will be ready to wed, and me, your father, and Mr. and Mrs. Sledge can enjoy planning a wedding again. His decision to fight as cost you, but I hope when he comes home this can all be resolved through new vows._  
_Love, _  
_Mama _

Sighing heavily, Tallulah tossed the letter to the floor and reached for her bottle of Grey Goose impatiently.  
He'd promised her they'd marry- he'd even proposed to her.  
He told her he loved her, and the second that diamond ring slid onto her finger, she believed him. She'd given herself to him, wholly and completely, in the best way she knew how, and now felt destroyed at the breaking of their engagement.  
She picked up the phone and dialed room service.  
"Yes Miss Adams?"  
Tallulah tiredly held up the receiver. "I'm taking a nap. Please wake me up by five o clock."  
"Yes 'Mam."  
Tallulah slammed down the phone and flopped onto the bed, clutching tightly to her bottle of vodka.


	3. A springfield and a pebble

**Again, thanks so much to Ber1719 for an amazing review. I'm loving this story, and hope ya'll are too.**

  
_"Come out and play Eugene!" The little redheaded girl yelled as she tugged impatiently at the edges of her poufy skirt. "Come out and play with me!"_  
_No one answered the little girl, and her calls were met by the sound of the warm spring wind gently rushing through the tall oaks and batting against the Spanish moss. The wind barreled down the tunnel of Southern live oaks that led up to the Sledge Mansion, and little Tallulah felt lonely with only the wind and the trees. _  
_"Eugene!"_  
_Again there was no reply but the rolling wind. She scuffed her little white Mary Jane's against the dusty ground and her cute red curls billowed out behind her in the breeze._

_"He ain't here."_

_Tallulah glanced upwards and saw a small, barefooted boy walk up to her. The boy wore faded blue jean overalls without a shirt and the ball cap her wore barely contained his twisted sandy hair. She squinted at him as she studied the boy, watching his toes curl and uncurl around a small clod of dirt._  
_"Well where is he?"_  
_Emerald eyes met a cobalt gaze as he shrugged. "Probably at the doctors. He's sick again."_  
_Tallulah's eyebrows furrowed and wrinkles of contemplation appeared on her smooth forehead._  
_"What's wrong with him now?"_

_The boy scratched the top of his cap, and shrugged his shoulders causing a loose overall strap to fall off. "Dunno. Fever. Third time this month."_  
_The boy sat down in the dirt and began sifting through it with his small hands."_  
_She stared at him a moment before plopping to the ground with him, the dust immediately staining her white dress. _  
_"What are you digging for?"_  
_The boy gave her a cautious smile, the edges of his plump lips barely upturning._  
_"Rocks." He told her matter-of-factly, "Eugene loves rocks."_  
_Her little fingers reached for a small pebble lying in the dirt. She lifted the rock and placed it near the little boy's hand, "Rocks." She repeated, as he glanced back at her. "Let's get Eugene some rocks."_  
x.x.x.x.x  
He twisted and writhed in the deep, sloppy mud, his ears still ringing from the recent shelling. He was still clutching tighter and tighter to his M1, as he fought uselessly to keep his eyelids open. He felt deceptively safe in his little foxhole, his face shielded from the line where barbed wire tangled with jungle plants and large machine guns hid in tropical bushes. He couldn't see the pile of bodies that had begun to amass on the opposite side of the barbed wire, and he didn't want to.

He'd been good with his weapon that night; some of those bodies were his mess, his doing. There were slight, careful whispers arising from the holes that surrounded him, and the noise was comforting. As abandoned as he felt, he really wasn't physically alone. His eyelids slid down, and he yawned unconsciously, slipping into a restless sleep, his fingers still curled securely around his gun.  
x.x.x.x.x

_The two children sat digging rocks together in the shallow dirt, their little fingers scraping against the ground. The girl looked up at him, and he noticed how tattered her white dress was. _  
_"Where'd you come from?" He asked her, glancing down at her calloused feet. _  
_Her green eyes shot defensively up towards him, and hardened immediately. "Nowhere." She replied firmly, readjusting to sit on her knees. "I come from nowhere."_

_He picked up a small stone and placed it in the gathering pile. "Where's that?" He questioned, "Where's nowhere…"_  
_The little girl looked contemplative for a moment, picturing her home. "A little house a few miles down the road, that's white, and the paint's peeling. There's cornfields everywhere, and an old red truck in the front yard- it don't work at all. But there ain't really no yard, it's just a bunch a grey sand, ain't no grass."_

_Her voice trailed off, and then picked back up again as she stared off at Eugene's grand house in the distance. _

_"The house has 4 rooms, and one of the windows is broken and ain't never been fixed. There's tall weeds that grow up the sides of the peeling paint, and no one ever cuts 'em. Can't see another house for miles, all you can see is corn, and corn and corn." She looked back up the blue eyed boy, and nodded. "That's nowhere."_  
_ "Ain't you getting tired of living there?"_  
_Her scarlet eyebrows furrowed and she glared back at him, "Ain't got anywhere else to live, stupid- so I gotta live in nowhere."_  
_"Oh." The sound was quiet, and dumb sounding, but it was all the little boy could come up with. _

_There was a long silence that descended over the children as the wind rushed through the oaks, and the moss swayed on the heavy breeze. She picked up another pebble that somehow had dark blue specks in it. Instead of placing it in the pile, she handed it to him, and he took it wordlessly. _  
_"Matches your eyes." She told him somberly, as he pocketed the rock. "Keep it for good luck, and don't lose it. My granny always says rocks can be lucky." _  
_"Thanks." The boy returned, zipping up his pocket on his overalls after tucking the rock safely inside. _  
_"And where you live?" The redheaded girl asked, her green eyes darting to his. "What's your name?"_  
_The boy opened his mouth to speak, as he adjusted his faded baseball cap. "Well my name-" _  
x.x.x.x.x  
"Get up boy!" Screamed the gunnery sergeant, throwing a hand in the air. "Get up, they're coming again!"  
His sky blue eyes shot open in the inky blackness, and instantly awake, he jumped up out of his hole. His hands shook a little as he readied his M1 in the humid darkness of Cape Gloucester, his gaze darting around to every bush and every plant that wriggled in the slight breeze.  
"Get ready boys!"

Suddenly, the jungle was filled with light, blazing streaking deadly light that flew from the barrels of hot guns.  
He lifted his own rifle, and returned fire listening to the chaotic screams of the Japanese soldiers as they charged down the bank. He was silent and made no noise as he continued to fire back, feeling his rifle kick him in the chest. Suddenly, he was out of ammunition, and he sunk low to his knees, reaching deep in to his dungaree pocket to pull out more bullets. He grabbed a handful of shining ammo, and stuffed it into the chamber. But one bullet didn't fit.

Struggling, he rose from the ground, and cocked the weapon, tossing the unusable bullet on the ground. The screams were mounting as more and more Japs came pouring down the bank, and he fired mindlessly towards the noises. He glanced down at the muddy ground, and for a moment, lowered his rifle in the middle of combat. The bullet that wouldn't fit wasn't a bullet at all, but a small pebble with dark blue specks. Quickly, he lifted the stone out of mud, and tucked it back into the pocket of his grimy dungarees. He shot again and again, over and over, as the night seemed to vanish into an eternal, artificial sunlight made only by gunshots and mortar flashes.

For a split second there was silence, and the only sound that could be heard was the thudding of bodies falling onto each other. Men reloaded quickly, and readied their guns again, for another suicidal banzi charge.

In the jungle's blackness, the blonde marine fingered the pebble that sat deep in his pocket.  
x.x.x.x.x  
Tallulah sat up in bed, clutching her chest. She glanced around the room anxiously, a nervous sensation coursing through her. Breathing heavily, she rose from her bed, and glanced at the clock- it was five. As she had commanded the phone began to ring, and quickly she picked up the phone, finding it's ring distressing.

"Yeah, I'm up." She mumbled into the receiver, flinging it back down on the hook. She plopped onto the floor and pulled out her bottle of Cognac, impatiently tearing off the top with her teeth. She upturned the bottle slightly, and let the amber liquid drip down her throat. Finally, she capped the bottle and slung it under the bed. She rose from the floor, instantly more ready to face the world for dinner. She trotted to the bathroom, and glanced at her makeup, which she assessed as being 'fine.' She quickly tossed off her red robe, and threw on a little, poufy, blue dress that came to her knees. She marched out of the bathroom and stared at the clock. 5:10.

What was she going to do with her life for another hour and twenty minutes? Tallulah spied the letter on the floor, and instantly dashed over to her desk to compose a reply. She tore out a sheet of paper and an envelope, and sifted through piles of papers and pre-signed autographs before finding a pen.

_ Mom, I thank you for letting me know the status of all the marital returns. I'm glad that we got the money back from the church, but I don't need it. Tell Dad to give it to Teola for spending money at college, I do hope she's enjoying the university. Don't worry about the wedding dress, maybe one day Trula will want it, or maybe one day Trula's daughter can wear it. I've sent another check that should cover all the bills for this month, and next month. I also just sent a check for Trula's dorm expenses this month, and an extra history text because apparently she lost hers. I hope you are enjoying the new house that I bought you, and also hoping that Trula and Evan are enjoyed the cottage I bought them down by the bay. It was good to hear from you, and I hope things are going well. Pass my love onto Dad and the rest of the family. I should be coming home in time for Easter._  
_With love,_  
_Tallulah _

Tallulah sighed and sealed the envelope, and stared down at another blank piece of paper. She made it a point to write to her family and friends in mobile; she even continued to write to Eugene. She placed her pen to the paper, and began composing another letter.

_Dear Eugene,_  
_I hope boot camp is going well for you, and hope that it hasn't left you too worn out. I wrote you earlier, about a month ago and never received a reply, and I was just wonde_ring _if you got my letter, or if-_

She stopped herself and flung the pen to the floor.  
She couldn't write to him.  
She had nothing to say but to ask him questions.  
The same questions that plagued her thoughts whenever she had a moment alone, or without her vodka or cognac.  
All she wanted to know was why… Even one year later, she still wanted to know why.  
Why couldn't he love her? Plenty of guys had girlfriends, wives and fiancées and went off to war. The women didn't stop them.  
But Eugene said he couldn't go with her.  
And he wanted to go.

Gasping, she corked the bottle quickly, and slung in under her bed, as she jumped off the floor and marched to the door.  
She flung open the door, and stared down at a small little boy, with blonde hair and deep blue eyes. He was dressed in a grimy pants and a stained shirt, and he wore a floppy cap atop his head. "Flowers Miss?" He offered, his rosy lips moving slowly as he held out a handful of blossoms. "My momma and me have roses, violets, carnations…"  
He went on in his small, assured voice, telling her about the other various flowers he had, but Tallulah didn't hear him. She didn't hear a single word as she studied his face, his hair and even lighter eyebrows. She glanced at his dark blue eyes, and his small hands, and instantly she was reminded of someone. Someone she couldn't quite remember, but should have.

"Uhh, how much are the roses?" She asked him distractedly, as she pulled him into her room, and hunted for her checkbook.  
"Roses are a dollar a blossom miss."  
He was a beautiful little boy, the kind of boy that Tallulah wanted to have. The kind of boy she and Eugene had talked about having.  
"Ya know… I'll take a rose, please." She told him, glancing once again from his blue eyes to his tattered clothing.  
"Thank you 'Mam."  
She flipped open her checkbook, her slender fingers dancing quickly over the edges as she found a blank check.  
"What's your name?" She asked him, as he produced a rose from a small cart he pushed. He handed her the rose, and she admired it for a moment before he answered.  
"I'm Henry Wallace."  
"And your momma's name?"  
"Marianne Wallace."

With her pen Tallulah slashed the mother's name onto the check, and in her jet black ink scribbled 20,000 dollars into the payment box. She blew on the ink gently, and then wrote her personal telephone number down and pointed to it.  
"You give this to your mama, alright? I think she'll like it."  
The boy nodded, "And what is it?" He asked embarrassedly. "I can't read those words."

Tallulah gave him a kind smile, and pointed to the check. "It's a type of money for your rose. It's real special, so you give it to your momma as quick as you can, hear?"  
He nodded, and folded the check carefully, and then placed it securely in his pocket. "Thank you mam."  
She grinned at him, admiring his sweet face, and wishing she could wash the soot off his plump cheeks. "You're welcome. There's a number on that check, and you tell your momma that if she needs to, she can call that to check about the payment."  
"Alright. Thank you miss." The little boy smiled at her, and she waved as she ambled down the hall, whistling cheerfully.

When he was gone she rushed to the window and drew back her closed curtains. Peering out of the glass, she stared down 15 stories to see Henry rush across the busy avenue, and hold up the check to his mother.  
The woman looked young, maybe even Tallulah's own age, and she watched in utter delight as the woman took the check, and then clutched her chest with happiness. She kissed her son jubilantly on the cheek before picking him up and swinging him around, as she marveled at the piece of paper. Grinning, Tallulah watched until the mother pocketed the check, and then Tallulah let the red curtains fall back down into place. With a fading smile she strode away from the window and back to the vanity before there was another knock at the door.

"Miss Adams, it's John Basilone."  
"Coming!" Tallulah called, as she rushed to the door. "Coming."  
She opened the door and smiled at him, before he produced a rose from behind his back.  
"For you Miss Adams..."  
Tallulah smiled and took the rose, placing it with the one Henry had already given her.  
"Oh you've already gotten one!" John noted, shrugging in his dress blues. "Shame."  
Tallulah shook her head, "Oh no, thank you!" She gushed, "I'm very grateful you bought it for me."  
John chuckled, and offered her his arm, which she took. "Well I only paid a dollar for it." He commented jokingly, "How'd you make out? Get a good deal for your rose?"  
Tallulah laughed, and shook her head, as she stopped walking and stared John in the eye. "You won't believe me when I say this…"  
"What?" He prompted. "Go on?"  
She flung a hand in the air, "I paid twenty thousand dollars for my rose."  
His brown eyes went wide with shock, and he gaped at her openly, before scoffing and staring back at her. "You kidding me?"  
She shook her head, which sent her blonde curls bouncing. "No, he was too cute, and had no money. Couldn't read poor thing."  
"So you just donated twenty thousand?"

Tallulah nodded, and remembered the shocked and amazed look on his mothers face. "I sure as hell did Sergeant."  
"Whoo!" He whistled appreciatively, "Kid must have had some charm! And you must have load of money."  
Tallulah laughed, as they strode out of the building and he opened the limo door for her.  
She smiled up at him in affirmation. "He was adorable."  
John climbed into the other side of the limo. "You're very generous Miss Adams."  
She smacked him on the hand. "It's Tallulah. Sergeant, call me Tallulah, or I swear I will scream."  
John gave her a smile, attempting to hide the concerned look in his dark eyes.  
The girl was drowning.  
"Tallulah it is then…"  
She took his hand quietly, and squeezed it gratefully. "Thank you John." She whispered as she watched the lights of New York city stream by her darkened window.  
"Thank you."


	4. No Stranger

**Many, many thanks to BloodUponTheRisers and Ber1719 for their awesome reviews on this story. I'm so, so happy ya'll are enjoying it! Keep on reading and reviewing :)  
**

The restaurant was dimly lit on the inside, and most light came from the oven fires that flared as pizzas were tossed into the heat.  
The walls were adorned with Italian paraphernalia, such as small Italian flags, or pictures.  
He led her to a shady corner booth where neither could be easily spotted by gaping onlookers or nosy passersby. Wordlessly, she glanced down at the menu, and her green eyes flickered back and forth in the dimness. while John continued to smile as he received his draft beer.

"To drink miss?" The waiter asked her. Like John, the man had black hair and black eyes that were accentuated nicely in the darkness.  
John grinned up at the waiter, "She'll have water." He told the man, as he watched Tallulah shake her head.  
"Do you have cognac?"  
The waiter glanced confusedly between the both of them, and didn't answer as her eyes dared John to continue.  
"She'll have water." John answered firmly, passing back the menus. "And we'll have a large New York style pizza."  
"You do want pepperoni on that?"  
John nodded, and the man disappeared back to the kitchen, and soon there was a large flash as another pizza was dumped onto the fire.

Tallulah fiddled with the little carnation in a small vase that sat on the table. Her fingers twiddled the stem back and forth before softly tracing the edges of the crimson petals.  
They reminded her of the little boy.  
"Why water?" She asked John, her eyes flashing upwards from the flower.  
He shrugged, "You smell like vodka and cognac, and I heard you shoving bottles under your bed before I came in…"  
"What does it matter?"  
"You oughta give it a rest."  
She gave a small snort. "It is rest."

He shook his head and smiled sadly at her, his dark eyes tinged with pity while the waiter delivered the water to the table.  
She stared down scornfully at it, watching the ice bob up and down in the clear glass.  
This would offer no solace or peace.  
It would only be something cold to slide down her throat.  
"Drink it." John whispered softly, prompting her with a raise of his dark eyebrows. "Just try it…"  
Tallulah grasped the cup and lifted it to her lips. The water tasted nice and cold, but there was no pungent smell or pleasurable sting that told her relief was coming.  
The ice water would not provide the coveted forgetfulness.  
"See it isn't bad!" John told her, as he lifted his dark ale to his own mouth. "It's pretty good."  
Tallulah gave a snide little laugh. "Says the man drinking beer."  
"Oh, phsst. The beer isn't that good."  
Tallulah glanced at the amber liquid, watching foamy bubbles float to the top. "Beer doesn't do it anymore." She noted quietly, as John studied the pained gaze in her emerald eyes. "Beer isn't strong enough."  
John nodded. "Keep it up, and neither Vodka or Cognac will do it either."

She said nothing and lifted the water to her lips, feeling the bland coolness in her mouth.  
It felt pure and clean- and almost strangely good because of it's righteousness.  
The waiter returned with the pizza, it's meat and cheese still sizzling from the brick oven. He placed it on the table, and instantly John was cutting into it, picking a few pepperonis off the top and popping them into his mouth.  
The water glanced at Tallulah's half full glass of water. "Still interested in Cognac, Miss?"  
Tallulah cleared her throat and glanced at the lemon floating in the water, occasionally bumping into the ice cubes.  
"No, I'm fine. Thank you though."  
The waiter nodded, and John glanced up from shoving an entire slice of pizza in his mouth to shoot her a proud grin.  
"Atta girl..." His dark eyes looked triumphant in the darkness, and rolling her own, Tallulah cut off a small sliver of the pie.  
"I've still got cases and cases of bottles back at the apartment…" She reminded him, raising a blonde eyebrow. "You haven't won yet."  
He laughed, and took another slice before grapping his mug of beer.

After dinner, John escorted Tallulah back to her apartment high-rise. The lights glinted off her little blue dress, and her long legs seemed to shine in the moonlight. Through the darkness, no one recognized the famous couple, and Tallulah was grateful for the peace. He opened the door to her apartment, and stepped in behind her, shooting her a quiet smile as he rubbed his stomach appreciatively.

"Great dinner!" He enthused, plopping down onto a couch. "I'm completely stuffed."  
She smiled at him, and joined him on the couch, yawning as she leaned back into the cushions. "I'm glad we went…"  
He grinned and nodded his agreement, before glancing at the clock that showed 11:30 as the time. "I'm glad you drank water." He joked, as she snorted. "Pizza and cognac? I can't think of a more disgusting combination."  
She laughed a little, and her nose wrinkled as she thought of the proposed taste. "You're right, it would have tasted horrible…" She agreed, as she attempted to suppress another yawn. "That greasy pepperoni and Italian sausage. Blehh!"  
"Hey now!" John warned, flicking a finger towards her. "That's the best pizza joint in New York because it's truly Italian."  
Tallulah made a little face, and stretched her legs out upon the coffee table. "I'd rather have shrimp."  
"Shrimp?"

She nodded, and smiled at the thought. "Broiled, grilled, boiled, fried…" She told him, "Buttered, with cocktail sauce, garlic sauce, breaded." She closed her eyes and imagined a pile of steaming shrimp before her, as she glanced out at the bayou. "Best food in the world."  
John looked unconvinced as he tried to imagine what shrimp would taste like with garlic sauce, the same Italian garlic sauce his mother used to baste steak or vegetables with. It seemed a mortal sin to waste it on briny shrimp.  
She saw his disbelief and laughed, "I'll bring you home to Mobile, and you'll understand."  
He grinned, and from his pocket pulled out his shiny silver flask. Quietly, he placed it in her hands and watched as she glanced down at it. Her fingers traced over his name that was engraved into the shiny steel, and she ran her red nails across the indentations. Jokingly, she shook it and pretended to listen for the distinctive sound of liquid sloshing against the sides.  
"It's empty!" She complained, as he chuckled.  
"That's the way it oughta be!" He noted, as she attempted to hand the container back to him. "Keep it like that Miss Adams."

x.x.x.x.x

Tallulah stumbled out of bed the next morning, and didn't bother to eat breakfast. She didn't really care if she starved to death. The flask sitting by the bedside glimmered in the bright morning light caught her eye. She took it gently in her hands. She would miss John. He was kind and caring, and she loved the way his dark eyes twinkled, reveling in their own mysterious blackness. She ran her fingers along the engraving of his name and sighing reached under her bed, attempting to see past platinum locks that fell into her face. She grabbed a bottle of Grey Goose and expertly removed the cork, something she knew she'd done far too many times. She carefully poured some of the vodka into the flash and capped the container before tossing the flask into an awaiting purse. For John's sake she would try to curb the vodka and cognac, only because he'd given her such a time about it, and also given her such a pretty flask. She tossed on a blue frock and grabbed a stack of mail that lay on her desk, which she would read during the boring week opening meeting Frank always insisted on having. Hell, if she was feeling particularly generous, and if Frank was being especially longwinded she might even return some of the fan-mail. Tallulah slipped on a pair of white sandals and headed for the door, ripping through an envelope.  
x.x.x.x  
_ Dear Tallulah, _  
_Thank you for your last check you sent. A big storm ripped through mobile the other day and tore some boards off the side of the house. Your father and I replaced them, and also some others that were almost rotten. It amazes me how the climate here can just destroy a house, even a new one like ours! Teola is doing well and is excited because she's going to tour a collage soon, and Trula is happy with her daughter and just recently found out she's due to have another in the spring. We received a letter from Bryan, and he told us he was fine and to take care of Trula for him. Mr. and Mrs. Sledge got a letter from Eugene and he's doing well in bootcamp. They also received a letter from Sidney Phillips- do you remember Sidney?_

Tallulah's green eyes shot up from the paper and she stared hard out into the space above Frank's head as he stood talking at the podium.  
"Sidney Phillips…" She breathed to herself. "Sidney Phillips."  
x.x.x.x.x  
Her fingers continued to drag through the dirt as she found another stone and tossed in back into the gravely sand. As she glanced up into the sky she noticed how the sun's marigold rays highlighted the fringes of the clouds setting them ablaze in a shocking orange. Abruptly, she rose from the ground and attempted to dust of her ratty white dress, The skirt had been soiled by the plumes of dust and the gritty sand, and her little fingers could not remove the stains. The dying light illuminated the blond boys curls and filled the tangles full of sunlight, highlighting them like the clouds. The redheaded girl turned to leave after scuffing her worn Mary Janes against the gravel.

_"You going back to nowhere?" The blonde boy asked, as he pushed up a loose denim overall strap that had slipped off his tan shoulder. Tallulah nodded and began to walk away before the blonde boy rose from the dirt. "We ain't found a rock to match your eyes yet." He protested as he folded his arms into a pouting gesture. She threw a glance back at him and scowled. "You aint't never gonna find no rock to match my eyes." _  
_"We could try."_  
_"I gotta go home."_  
_"Back to nowhere?"_  
_Tallulah nodded and the pointed towards the clouds that had now turned a menacing shade of purple. _  
_"There's gonna be a storm." _  
_He nodded at the obvious. "I oughta walk you home then." He noted as he adjusted his small baseball cap, tousling his blonde curls in the process. "Momma says that ladies should always be escorted home…"_  
_Tallulah didn't say anything but ran her small fingers through her crimson hair. "It's a long walk…" _  
_"Then I ain't letting you walk it alone."_  
_The tough redhead's lips broke out into a smile, and her usually hard expression softened in gratitude._  
_"Thanks." She finally whispered, her voice softening just like her face had. _  
_Clearing his throat the blonde boy offered Tallulah his arm as she wriggled her toes against the insides of her shoes. She hated the feeling of her dust coated, grimy feet sliding dryly against the slick bottoms of her Mary-Janes. _  
_"Well my momma says I ain't supposed to walk with strangers."_  
_The blonde boy rolled his eyes, the dazzling cyan of his irises glinting in the fading evening light. _  
_"Well I ain't no stranger." He told her, as he once more locked arms with Tallulah. _  
_"I'm Sidney Phillips…"_  
x.x.x.x.x  
Tallulah's emerald eyes jerked back into focus and she glanced around the conference room distractedly.  
"And as I was saying, I know Miss Adams can really attest to the idea." Franck glanced towards Tallulah.  
She cleared her throat and attempted to clear her head.  
"Uh yes!" She agreed loudly, unsure of what she was actually concurring with. "Frank is right. I uh, completely agree."  
Frank shot her a horribly condescending smile and she snarled at him, a corner of her candy lips upturning in disgust.  
"And so my lovely ladies." Frank continued, pushing his thick rimmed glasses back up to his face. "There will be a shipment of rotations and injured men coming back from the pacific. The USO and some other organizations will be there to welcome the boys back and we've decided that esquire magazine models should be there too."

Audibly, Tallulah snorted. She guessed this was just another of Frank's publicity stunts.  
"We'll be selecting girls to greet the troops and pose for a few pictures.  
A hand raised and Frank pointed to the questioning girl. "When is this?"  
Frank grinned. "Tomorrow the boys come in and we'll be there to wait for the troop ship.  
Tallulah fiddled with the edge of her skirt and glanced aroun, already bored of Frank's useless meeting.

x.x.x.x.x.x  
"I don't think sailors are real smart." W.O Brown commented as he pulled out a cigarette from the pack that Bill Leyden offered him.  
"Why's that?"  
"They volunteer to sit in an oven all day."  
Dewan tossed W.O his lighter and swiftly he flicked it, causing a flame to spring to life. The men stared at the flame, wondering if the entire ship was as hot as that little spark. Finally, W.O lifted the zippo to his cigarette and threw if back to Dewan who listlessly caught it.

'Too damn hot in here to smoke!"  
Leyden turned to see his young friend climbing tiredly into his bottom cot.  
"I swear Sid." W.O began tiredly. "If it was up to you, it would be too hot to do anything."  
"Except sleep." Muttered Dewan  
Sidney Phillips shook his blonde head, sending his unruly, non-regulation curls flying as he plopped jadedly onto his berth. "It's too hot for that too." Sidney grumbled, as Hammond jumped up excitedly, his eyes cutting secretly to the side.  
"What the hell are you doing?" Leyden moaned as his cot jiggled while Harrison crashed to the floor.  
Hammond grinned and stumbled to his foot locker. He reached into the compartment and finally pulled out the latest issue of Esquire magazine.

"No way!" W.O breathed, jerking the cigarette from between his lips. "You've got the new one."  
Hammond grinned and raised his dark eyebrows in fake promiscuity. "Perks of having a mailman for a brother."  
Sidney didn't even look at the magazine, the whole wall of the berth was covered in photographs of Esquire's harem of women, each as lovely as the next. He drew a cigarette out and lit it quickly. He jammed the cigarette between his chapped lips, inhaled the dry smoke, and stared upwards at the striped mattresses that hung overhead. He crossed his eyes and observed the effects of blurring his vision, as the rows of navy and white strips fuzzed into one shade.

"C'mon Sid!" Urged Dewan as Bill whistled at the spread in the magazine. "This is a good one."  
Sidney sighed and pushed himself off the bed as he rubbed his burning eyes. He'd been on the bridge all night on watch duty. He ambled over to Hammond who held the magazine proudly, as if he personally owned all the women it displayed.  
"I oughtta charge ya'll." He noted.  
Sidney scoffed at the magazine and shook his head.  
"I'm too damn tired to look at your girls Hammond."  
"Someone take him to sick bay." Dewan complained, as his eyes widened while he stared down at the page. "He's obviously ill if he don't wanna look at this girl."

Growling, Sidney stood and ambled dazedly towards the group of men who had crowed around Hammond and his coveted publication.  
"Glad you could make it!" Bill muttered. Hammond pointed to a leggy starlet on the glossy page, and raised his eyebrows whistling appreciatively.  
"Ain't she something…"  
Sidney followed the point of Hammond's finger and glanced down at the girl.

She had platinum curls that barreled down her shoulders to reach halfway down her back. She had perfect, shapely, long legs that gleamed in the photograph's lighting. She wore a skimpy little swimsuit, colored white and blue like sailor's uniforms. In the photos she posed with a handsome dark marine that Sidney identified easily as the infamous John Basilone- hero of Guadalcanal.  
He was lifting her with the same strong arms that had lifted the hot machine gun and left him with third degree burns and a medal of honor. She straddled his powerful shoulders with those two glorious legs, and John Basilone had his hands were other med could have only dreamed of putting theirs- on Essie Jo Adam's heavenly curves.

Sidney smiled at the pictures and shook his head. "Yeah, she's gorgeous." He admitted to the guys as he snatched the issue. Quickly he stared at the girl once more and noticed the glimmering green in her eyes. He'd seen green eyes like that once before, and only once. But he couldn't remember her name. only the face that her eyes had been more verdant than emeralds.  
He couldn't help but smile down at the picture of the girl who reminded him of someone else. Someone with glorious vagueness- someone who reminded him of a life without war. She looked as if the war had never happened.

"Where ya going with my pictures?" Hammond demanded, following Sid closely to keep an eye on his magazine. Sidney hopped back into his cot and reached up to the metal bedframe above. He ripped off a piece of paper that had been pasted to the cot above him and wriggled back out of his tiny, hanging bed. He held out the poster of Betty David to Hammond in offering. "I'll trade you!" Sidney proposed. "I'll trade you a Betty Davis for that girl there."  
"Hmmm. Betty Davis for my Essie Jo Adams." He stared between both blondes and finally looked back at Sidney's wistful gaze. "Seems like a fair trade…"

He handed Sidney the magazine and watched the younger man eagerly tear out the picture of Essie Jo Adams, giving a cheeky salute to the camera and hiking a leg up onto a railing of a battleship. He posted the pictures above his bed, and his buddies whistled to him as they filed out of the room for the 0630 meal and morning briefing.  
Sidney gave them all a satisfied grin as he folded his arms behind his head and stared up at his new pictures. He heard the bell call whistle and he sighed as he settled back into his cot for a four hour nap.  
Sidney Phillips drifted to sleep staring up into familiar green eyes and wishing the breeze that blew so perfectly though the blonde's hair would somehow find it's way into his sweltering berth.


	5. A Model Personality

**Ahh, I sound like a broken record. But thanks again to my lovely reviewers BloodUponTheRisers, and Ber1719 :) They keep this story going! :) Hoping everyone is having a great summer, and just wanted to add in on an extremely random note- I watched Legends of the Fall for the first time last night, and was blown away. Anyways, enjoy this next installment :)  
EllieMayy  
**

Tallulah smiled happily, and breathed in a deep sight as soon as the fresh air hit her face. She'd been cramped in Frank's horrible meeting all morning, and finally was getting to leave.  
However, her smile quickly faded as she noticed the droves of photographers heading her way. Groaning, she lowered her head and continued to her dressing room. She brushed by them quickly, and slammed the door to her room, relishing in the delightful sound of the door crashing back to it's frame.

She let out a gleeful laugh as she watched the paparazzi pile behind the entrance, clamoring and fighting to get closer to the closed door, that she would not exit through. She tossed on the clothing laid out for her, a simple red gingham dress. She pushed the sunglasses down onto her face, and walked to the another exit to her room. She pushed open the door, and grinned at Antonio and Lorenzo, who returned her smile.  
"Escape?" Antonio asked, grinning as each began walking by her side to the hair and makeup room.  
Tallulah rolled her eyes, "Barely."  
Lorenzo scoffed, and eyed a group of people that had started heading towards his precious client. "We've got you." He told her reassuringly. "No one bothers our Essie-Jo!"  
Tallulah laughed, and smiled at them, reaching up to pat each one on their dark heads. "I love my boys." She noted contentedly, as she heard an uproar behind her, and her name being screamed manically. Lorenzo shot a calculating look over his broad shoulder and drew Tallulah closer. "And we love our Essie!"  
x.x.x.x  
"That's perfect Miss Adams!" A photographer praised as Tallulah looked deep into the camera lens and let a mysterious smile flit across her lips. She lifted the glass of champagne to her lips and actually drank from it, feeling the bubbly fizz slide down her throat. She said nothing as she glanced back at the camera, the stem of the champagne glass held in dainty looseness between her elegant fingers. She lowered her gaze, and stared attentively at the cup. The camera clicked on, as she drank again, her plump lips sliding over the rim of the glass. The room was dark, and Tallulah stared off into the murky light, blinking carefully.  
She held out her glass and tossed an annoyed glance towards Frank, who stood behind the cameraman, supervising.  
Tallulah was convinced he was the most voyeuristic person she'd ever met.  
He attended every photoshoot he could.

"I'm out!" She told them, flipping a hand in the air. "I've got no more champagne!"  
Frank grinned and grabbed the bottle of bubbly. He stumbled over cords and the rug to Tallulah's table, before refilling her crystal glass. Tallulah didn't smile or thank him; she simply nodded as the photographer waved angrily at Frank. "Get outta the way." The camera clicked a few more times and Tallulah lifted the glass to her lips once more, and downed the effervescent liquid. It didn't burn like cognac, and therefore was far less satisfying. She slammed the glass back on the set's table, and popped her lips, a sound of finality.

"I'm done." She announced, standing up. "I'm sure you've gotten a few shots."  
The photographer nodded. "We've gotten plenty. We appreciate your time Miss Adams."  
Tallulah returned his nod, and exited the room quickly, pushing past photographers, cameramen, and Frank. She slung off the hideously gaudy dress she wore, made garish by it's striking red color, and cheap tulle skirt.  
A cameraman stared on in disbelief as he watched one of Esquire's most famous models saunter down the hall in her underwear, and was tempted to retrieve his camera and begin clicking away once more. The tulle dress lay abandoned on the floor in a scarlet crumple, like molted skin.

"Model personality?" Asked a photographer, as he watched her hips sway in defiance.  
Frank nodded, not bothering to explain the 'model personality.' He guessed her insolence came more from a painful abhorrence for her job, than actually having a type A personality.

He watched her disappear out the entrance, and watched the men's gleeful faces turn crestfallen as they heard the slam of the door. Essie Jo Adams was only Essie Jo Adams during the photoshoots- at all other times, whenever possible, Essie Jo Adams became someone Esquire magazine would not have hired- a simple, sweet, girl from Mobile, Alabama- Tallulah Kendall Adams. He'd dyed her hair, given her showy dresses and lavish jewelry in an attempt to disguise her. And the façade usually worked. She was the most glamorous, desirable, and best selling model that Esquire had under contract. However, when the dress was cast aside and the jewelry removed, the model he tired so hard to create vanished. In her place she left a beautiful but homely girl, who wanted nothing more than to go home and marry the soldier who deserted her... And nothing irked Frank more.  
"Model personality." He agreed, knowing nothing was further from the truth.  
x.x.x.x.x  
_"Come on Sidney!" The redheaded girl squealed as she bounded into the tall field of sun-streaked corn stalks. "Come on!"_  
_Grinning, Sid charged into the golden spires, immersing himself in a forest of faded gold. The hot Alabama sun beat down upon the already scorched earth. Sidney glanced upwards to see the blue sky divided by reaching maze fingers. He could hear the redheaded girl laughing, as he pushed back burnt folds to find her. He dove into the cornfield, spellbound and enchanted by the intoxicating sound of the girl's giggle. _

_"Tallulah!" Sidney called, batting away a fallen stalk that obscured his vision. "Tallulah where are you?" _  
_Another melodious chord of laughter arose and Sidney glanced around, searching. _  
_Suddenly, the corn to his left shifted and then parted to reveal two striking verdant eyes that peered out at him from between shrouding fronds. _  
_"Down here!" She called from her crouching position._  
_She smirked up at him and he laughed and plopped down on the ground beside her._  
_"So this is nowhere?"_

_Tallulah nodded and said nothing more, not bothering to talk over the loud rustling of the wind through the dried corn stalks. _  
_Sidney stared upwards, amazed at the how shielded from the world he felt sitting in the golden rows. _  
_"I love it here…" He told her, gentling fingering the soil. Again, Tallulah said nothing. _  
_Sidney didn't bother talking to her anymore. He was slowly figuring out that she was a girl of few words. It was peaceful in the cornfield, shrouded from the outside world, and Sidney stretched out in the dirt, folding his arms behind his head. Following suit, Tallulah did the same, not even noticing the dirt that smudged her already grimy dress. _

_"Wanna stay for dinner?" She suddenly offered, her eyes remaining fixated on the pale blue sky. "Eugene usually stays for dinner." _  
_"Yeah?"_  
_"Uh-huh."_  
_"I'll stay."_  
_Tallulah nodded, satisfied with his answer, and laid back down in the soft dirt. Her eyes met his, and again she noticed how the cyan of his eyes dulled the color of the sky. _  
_"Good."_  
x.x.x.x

Tallulah's eyes flickered open in the darkness of her room, and she groaned as she realized that she had actually awoken. She shook her head to clear it. It felt heavy, filled with hazy nostalgia she couldn't entirely process. She rose quickly from her bed, and then just as quickly dropped to the floor. Her hands reached with frenzied desperation under the bedskirt, feeling for the comforting sensation of her fingers on the cool glass of her Grey Goose. She seized the bottle quickly and rose from the floor, uncapping the bottle as she did so. Her feet padded against inlaid parque floor, and she liked the cool slickness of the expensive wood. Even in the darkness, she knew the path from her bed to the balcony well.  
Most nights she got up once, and came out to have a drink.  
Some nights, on bad nights, she got up twice.

She shoved open the door to her balcony, and let the cool air rush in to her apartment. The lights from the city twinkled and glittered around her, as her home was among some of the New York skyscrapers. The skyline many people saw from across the channel wasn't just a glinting outline in the darkness- she lived in the outline. Towering buildings charged upwards all around her, and she was surrounded by sparkling lights and soaring skyscrapers. Lights from the streets glimmered below her, and Tallulah enjoyed looking down at the streets, filled with energetic nightlife. She hoisted herself up on the railing of her balcony, which was just wide enough for her to sit on. The edge of her lacy nightdress billowed over the edge of the railing, and danced in the breeze.

Tallulah looked down at her feet that dangled precariously over the edge of the railing, surrounded by nothing but empty ebony air. Her bottle of vodka sat beside her- the trusty friend that would never leave until she cast it out or kicked the habit. She wriggled her toes as she took a sip of the drink, her eyes still focused on her suspended feet. She wondered what would happen if she slipped, and fell fifteen stories downward. But the thought didn't last for long, as she happily lifted the whole bottle to her lips and began chugging. She stared upwards and saw lights, she gazed down and saw lights. Lights surrounded her, small lights, and large billboards, illuminated in garish neon. It was comforting to know that there were still people awake below and above her- that she wasn't the only person who was sleepless.

The lights danced on her bottle, reflecting and shimming in the glass. She took another sip, and felt the persuasive tug of the stiff breeze on her nightgown that danced in the empty air a few inches below her. A few sips later Tallulah was sleepy again, and felt the wonderful ache to place her heavy head on a soft pillow. She grabbed her bottle of Grey Goose, and hopped of the railing, taking a last look at the vibrant nightlife beneath her. In the city that never sleeps, Tallulah was going back to bed.  
x.x.x.x  
Sidney Phillips heard the late wake up call ring, and jumped out of bed, pulling back on his pants. Somehow he had managed to kick them off in his sleep. Normally, in the 90 degree heat of the battleship, Sid wouldn't have been jumping out of bed. But today was special. Today he was coming home from two years of fighting in the pacific. He hopped around in an attempt to fit a leg into his dungarees, and smiled. He tossed on a shirt, and ran up to the mess hall for food. He slid his tray along the counter, and watched as servers slopped piles of unrecognizable gloop onto his plate. But for the second time on his tour the food looked good. The first time the food had looked good was after fighting on Guadacanal.  
And now, they were going home.  
The food looked utterly delicious.

The happiness in the galley were contagious, and men Sidney had never seen smile once, were grinning broadly. Sailors and Marines pulled well-worn pictures out of their pockets, and studied faces they hadn't seen for three years. Fathers wondered what the babies they had left looked like as toddlers. Husbands wondered how their wives were, and if they would be greeted by a little family- instead of just a spouse. Boyfriends wondered how their girl was doing, and if they were still really together. But Sidney had nothing to worry about, except for cringing at the thought of his mother's overly joyous embrace.

He sat down with his platoon- what was left of his platoon, and began shoveling the slop into his mouth, smiling as he did so. Dewan pulled out a picture of his girl, and stared at it longingly, the anxiety was tangible as he touched the picture. Danny stared down at a picture of his wife, and the letter she'd written saying she'd given birth to his son. Sidney stared down at nothing besides his food, and he was happy for the men around him. He couldn't wait to see his best friend Eugene Sledge. He couldn't wait to tell him the good stories, and forget about the horrors on his two-month leave.  
He glanced up at the kitchen clock, which seemed to be ticking slower and slower.

x.x.x.x  
"No, no no!" Frank yelled, clutching a hand to his forehead. "I don't want you standing there! You're blocking Monica." From the front of the line Tallulah rolled her eyes at the sight of the other models trying to form a procession on the dock. Frank was having a hell of a time keeping them all organized. "No, don't stand there Anna. You're blocking Emily if you stand there. Stand where I told you!" Tallulah sighed heavily, and turned away from the scene.

The troop ship had docked over an hour ago, and the sailors and soldiers still hadn't been released. However, the delay was beneficial to Frank, who had taken an entire hour lining up the Esquire girls along each side of the dock. Some girls had to hand out milk and cookies, or flowers and flags, and were utterly confused about it. All Tallulah had to do, was smile, and shake the hand of each soldier or sailor that came down the gangplank, and thank him for his service. She was at the head of the line, at the front of the dock- set apart from the other girls.  
Her vision blurred as she continued to stare straight ahead into dull, grey metal as she waited for the gangplank to lower.  
She could hear Frank behind her.

"Don't stand there!"  
"But I want to be closer to the front!"  
"The back is fine too."  
"No it's not!"  
"Too bad!"

She began stamping her foot impatiently, and tapping her little heel against the wood of the dock. A straining creaking suddenly filled the air, and Frank ran up the dock.  
"Alright, places girls!"  
Tallulah bit her lip and watched the gangplank lower, the metal stretching and straining to reach land.  
Suddenly, rows of white appeared behind the gangplank, and Tallulah found herself staring up into the admiring gazes of hundreds of sailors. She shot them a quick smile, before directing her attention to a nurse who was rolling a man in a wheelchair down the ramp. T

allulah smiled at him, and took his hand. "Thank you for your service Soldier." She murmured, squeezing his hand.  
The man glanced up at her for the first time, and Tallulah's eyes widened when she saw the massive burns that ran along the right side of his face. The flesh was swollen and puffy, and seeped clear fluid, before hardening into ugly scars that tore into once unblemished skin. His right eye had been burnt shut, and a disgusting piece of charred flesh covered the socket where his eyeball should have been.  
He smiled up at her, but the smile was unintentionally crooked, as only half the man's face worked.

"Thank you 'mam!" He told her quietly, all too aware of the hideous markings on his right side. Quickly, Tallulah pressed a kiss into his cheek, making sure that her perfect lips touched the burnt side. He gaped at her for a moment, his mouth falling open in surprise, disbelieving that such an angel could possibly kiss his horrendously deformed face.

Tallulah squeezed his hand, and nodded. "Take care soldier."  
With a careful hand, he reached up at touched the disfigured half of his face, as he was wheeled down the gangplank. Tallulah blinked hard, trying not to think of how the man had received such injuries. Although she tried not to wonder, the image of a flamethrower flashed into her mind. But her thoughts were soon jerked from her, when more and more men poured down the gangplank. She saw more and more injuries- amputated legs, chemical burns, head wounds, but nothing could prepare her for what she would see next.

x.x.x.x.x  
Sidney, Dewan and Leyden stumbled around on the deck jovially, excited rushing forward to the line for the gangplank. It was moving in surges, and then sudden standstills, and it annoyed them all.  
"What the hell is going on?" Sidney mused, his fist curling up in anger.  
Dewan shook his head, and gnawed on his lip, while y glanced over the railing, and stared down at the dock for the first time since arriving on deck. His dark eyes widened, and he pulled the cigarette from his mouth as he turned back to his comrades.

"What is it?" Dewan demanded, stretching in an attempt to see over the rail. "What's the damn holdup here?"  
Leyden stuffed the cigarette back into his mouth, and nodded down towards the dock which he now knew to be crowded.  
"There's girls." He told his friends, as Sidney's eyes widened a little.  
"No shit!" Dewan spat, "Of course there's going to be girls."  
leyden shook his head, and watched as Sidney bounced and bobbed for a better look. "I'm talking pin-up girls. Models. Esquire girls."  
Sid's jaw dropped, and he shook his head in disbelief. "You're shitting me!"  
"Look for yourself."  
"No shit!" Breathed Dewan in amazement, fighting his way back from the rail. "Take a look Sidney!"

Sid pushed his way up to the railing, and glanced over at the line of girls that stretched from the gangplank to the end of the dock. There was a flash of gold, and he glanced towards the front of the gangplank, to see one model's platinum blonde hair fluttering in the stiff breeze. His eyes did not leave her, and he strained to see her closer. Even from a distance, she seemed so vaguely familiar. He fought to remember where he had seen her, and shortly, it came to him. He glanced down at those blowing blonde curls, and knew she was the girl from his poster. "Essie Jo Adams!" He muttered to himself, his face bighting a little in recognition.  
"Ohh you found your girl!" Joked Leyden, as he nudged Sidney forward into the now moving line.

The closer he moved to Essie Jo Adams, the more recognizable she looked. She wasn't just that girl in the poster; her familiarity ran deeper than that. As if he had seen her somewhere else, as if he'd seen her once, or even twice before. The line marched forward, and his eyes never left her pretty face, studying the details that seemed recognizable to him. She was beautiful, but it he struggled to remember where he'd seen her before, if not in any of her thousands of posters. He drew closer to her still, and noticed a freckle on her left cheek. Finally, the line had moved close enough to her that she outstretched her hand, to take Dewan's in a friendly shake. She clasped his hand, and gazed at him. "I'm Essie Jo Adams." She told Dewan, "And I thank you for your service Marine."

He stared into her green eyes, those intensely green eyes he had stared into for many nights, gazing up at his poster. He'd never seen eyes that green. He'd never seen eyes that dulled emeralds.  
He began shaking his head, as she told Dewan her name. Her hair had changed, it was now blonde, and most of her freckles had been covered up. But it was those eyes, her eyes hadn't changed. He'd never seen eyes so green before in his life, except for the little redheaded girl he'd known as a child. The little redhead who dug for rocks, and danced in cornstalks. Those were her eyes, and he was sure of it.

She took Leyden's hand, her lips parting to reveal a dazzling smile. "I'm Essie Jo Adams="  
"No you aren't! You aren't Essie Jo!"  
The woman looked up in shock, and for the first time in three years indigo eyes met a verdant green gaze. He felt himself continue boldly, the words slipping out on their own as he challenged her identity.  
"You're not Essie Jo. You're Tallulah Kendall Adams."


	6. I'll Find You

**To my lovely reviewers- thank you so much :) I'm glad your loving this story as much as I am. This chapter is one big mess, cause it's hot off the press. Oh baby, that rhymed. Anyways, I literally finished it 10 minutes ago. So I apologize for any typos/ect. Ya'll lemme know what you think! Oh, and for any Pacific fans, go check out Two Torn Souls by Ber1719. It's great!  
**

Tallulah's eyes were huge as she stared into azure orbs of a boy she hadn't seen in three years. A blonde haired boy, who looked much older than when he had left. Her hand flew to cover her agape mouth, and she shook her head in disbelief.  
She reached out for him, dazedly leaving the side of a disappointed Dewan. Her hand clutched to his firm grasp, and she placed her other hand on his soft cheek, testing the realness of his existence. She exhaled hard when her fingers felt his warm flesh, proving he was not just another of her nostalgic wishes.

"Sidney Phillips." She breathed in amazement, instantly knowing the name as she pressed her shaking hand to his cheek. "Sidney Phillips!"  
He nodded at her, his head bobbing up and down with excited assurance as he squeezed her head. "Hey Tal!" He greeted finally, when the initial shock of their reunion abated. "I'm back from the Cape."  
"The Cape?" She felt stupid not knowing this cape- stupider than she had ever felt in Mr. Hardin's World Geography class. "What cape?"  
His eyes lit up with happiness, as if she had just said something wondrous. He grinned at her, and her perfectly innocent face. She didn't know about the Cape, or the mud, fungus, disease, or dead Japs that inhabited that godforsaken piece of island. She didn't know about the horrible barrages late at night, or how the whole island smelled like death; a blend of two skins, Japanese and American, as flesh rotted into the gunk. She didn't know.  
"It's nowhere." He promised quickly, as he took her other hand in his. "I'm just back."

Tallulah felt her chest heaving, as if the effort of clutching his hand had exerted her. Her eyes stared at him in utter disbelief, and she refused to let go of his hand. His twisted blonde hair looked like it had been ruffled by the breeze that barreled down past the tunnels of southern oaks. His cyan eyes were the same intense blue of the late afternoon sky in Alabama. His skin was tanned, and if looked like he'd been lazing in the sun and sand on Dauphin Island. She could see hard, wiry muscles rippling underneath his shirt- it appeared he'd been in the golden cornfields behind her house, planting and sowing seeds in the rich earth. The calluses on his hands felt like the small stones they used to dig for as children. He even smelled like home. His sweat, cologne and the sea breeze had combined to create an intoxicating, familiar aroma that wafted off his skin.

"Hey quit hogging!" Yelled a sailor behind Sidney, interrupting the reunion of two childhood friends.  
Tallulah shook her head, and glanced up at eager and expectant men who were piling up at the ramp. She shook her head at them- she wouldn't be taken from Sidney. He wouldn't leave her. He couldn't. Not when he looked like this, not when he smelled like this.

"No!" She breathed, her eyes widening in horror.  
Frank rushed up to Tallulah, an exasperated glare on his face. "What's the problem here?"  
Tallulah shook her head, and glanced back up at Sidney, who smiled down at her.  
"No, he-"  
Sidney piped up, and squeezed her hand, attempting to press reassurance into her skin. "She's an old friend, Sir. I've met her before."  
Frank glared at him, nudging him onwards. "Uh-huh. Sure you have Kid."  
Sidney's blue eyes turned steely, and he gripped tighter to her hand. "I know her! This is Tallulah-"  
"Move on marine!"

Tallulah could see Lorenzo and Antonio approaching, and against her every will, she let go of his hand and pushed him away.  
"Go on!" She murmured, "I'll find you later."  
Her reluctant fingers slid down the sides of his slick shirt, as he stumbled away from her.  
"Tal!" He protested, his eyes widening in confusion. "Tal, I wanna see you!  
She nodded repeatedly and her eyebrows furrowed, depressing as she begged him for understanding. "Please, just go! I'll find you later on!"  
"I'm at the Army lodgings."  
"I'll find you."  
"I'm staying near 7th street."  
"I'll find you."  
"Tal, I'm at eh corner of-"  
"I'll find you!"

He was shoved down the gangplank by impatient soldier, sailors and marines who couldn't wait to get home.  
"Tallulah! Near 7th street!" He called, his voice loud in an attempt to carry over the crowd.  
Hands pressed frantically into hers, and cameras clicked wildly. She hurried to greet and receive the servicemen, and when there was a lull in the line, she threw a glance in the direction where Sidney had been. She didn't see him anymore. His lanky figure and twisting blonde curls had disappeared into the sea of people.  
"I'll find you!" She murmured, her voice low as she turned away from the busy dock. "I'll find you."  
x.x.x.x.x

"That was a hell of an interruption!" Frank grumbled, as Tallulah stomped down the gangplank. Her glossy, blank pumps struck against the splintered planks of the dock, as she strode away from him. He charged after her, cringing at the glances of soldiers and sailors who dared to look at the unfolding scene.  
"Miss Adams! We did not discuss you having a personal meeting with some marine!" She walked on, her chin rising as she continued to stride on.  
"Miss Adams! This was not protocol!"  
Tallulah whirled around to face him, her platinum curls swinging into her face, which was contoured with anger.  
"I didn't know he was gonna be here!" Tallulah cried, pushing her blonde tangles back behind her shoulders. "I had no idea! I haven't seen him in three years."

Frank grabbed her arm, and she hissed and jerked it away. "Essie Jo, really… It wasn't appropriate! There was a commotion in the line behind you."  
She rubbed her arm where he had gripped it, as if his touch had burnt. "I don't give a damn Frank." She spewed, turning away from him. "I don't care!"  
He grabbed her arm again, and pulled her towards him. She smacked his arm away, and glared at him. "Don't touch me!"  
He grimaced, and sighed heavily in an audible attempt to calm himself. "Essie Jo, it wasn't appropriate. Your reaction to seeing him wasn't appropriate. It'll be all over the tabloids tomorrow."

She glowered up at him, her green eyes brimming with an irreconcilable rage. "You wanna know what's not appropriate Frank? Esquire Magazine! These ridiculous dresses you put me in! This damn industry is what's inappropriate!"  
He pushed up his thickly rimmed glasses, and Tallulah noticed the slight trembling of his hands. "Of all people, you shouldn't be saying that Miss Adams. This magazine had given you everything. This magazine has given you everything that every woman in America wants. Beautiful dresses, expensive jewelry, a fancy apartment, a great car. You meet amazing men, and just recently we purchased you a house in Hollywood!"  
"I didn't ask for all this!" Tallulah yelled, her hands rising in exasperation. "I didn't ask for that house, those dresses or those jewels!"  
"Comes with the job Miss Adams."

She bit her lip so hard that frank watched the red flesh turn pale. "Frank, please. I don't want to talk about this now."  
"I wasn't asking you to talk about 'this' Essie Jo. I wasn't asking you to come whine to me about how you don't want dresses, cars or houses. But you start up on it! You just always complain about it. So no, I don't want to talk about this either. But you can't help yourself Essie Jo! You can't help but be an ungrateful bitch to this entire company and me. So do us both a favor and stop wanting what you can't have. Why don't you just be grateful for having the life every woman wants instead of wanting to go back to your rinky-dinky little town."

Her hands were shaking at her sides, and her fingers curled around the fabric of her gingham dress. Her fingernails dug into the cloth and scratched against it. "It's my home. A home I never wanted to leave."  
Frank scoffed, and glared at her. "And what about your soldier Essie Jo? What about him, I guess you never wanted him to leave you either?"  
"He had to."  
"Well, has he deserted the Army like he deserted you?"  
Her words spewed from between breaths that were ragged, short from how much her anger exerted her. "He didn't leave me."  
"And that blonde boy that got off the boat today? Did he leave you too?"  
"You don't know him! You don't know that either of them left me!"  
"I've seen the letters."

Her eyes widened immediately, and she could taste blood on her lips from where she had pressed her teeth so hard into the soft flesh. "You read my letters?"  
Frank nodded, and shook his head. "And it's all the more reason I don't understand why you can't be happy here! Eugene's stuffy, aloof, and he left you while you were planning the wedding, Hell, you'd even bought your dress! Eugene chose fighting in the muddy, sloppy jungles over marrying you. He's a deserter, with a character about as weak as his heart- which will probably give out the first time he sees combat…."

She felt a nail break, as she her fingertips tore against the fabric. She glared up at him, hot tears blurring a vision that was already obscured by anger. As Tallulah looked at her boss she felt the need to say as many horrible and vile things to Frank as she could think of. She wanted to cuss him out. She wanted to kick him square in the crotch, and shrink the size of his balls, which already far to small. She wanted She wanted to call him all the vile, wretched, horrible names she knew.

But as she tried to think of her wicked, ugly, words- none came. So she just stood there, trembling and shaking with her enveloping rage. In a raspy whisper the words finally escaped her, and she hissed "I hate You."  
Then her voice rose from a hiss to a whisper. "I hate you."  
Finally, her voice rose even further, and she yelled it, proclaiming her loathing to all in the shipyard. "I hate you!"

With her simple words ringing in his ears she marched away once more. She threw a hand in the air, and flagged down a cab. The bright yellow car pulled up to the curb, and Tallulah flung open the door. But she turned back to Frank, who still stood rooted with embarrassment to his place on the dock.  
"And he's in the Marines!" Tallulah uttered, her so words sharp and sibilant they tasted bitter in her mouth. "He's not in the army- he's in the marines."  
With that, Tallulah stepped into the car, and pressed a twenty dollar bill into the driver's hands.  
"Take me to 7th street." She demanded, as she flourished another twenty out of her purse. "And if you can get me to army lodgings, take this."  
The driver grinned at her, but she didn't return his smile.  
The scowl on her face only relented when she heard the revving of his engine as they pulled away from the curb, and away from Frank.

x.x.x.x.x

The cab driver looked around in wary suspicion, as he pulled onto 7th street. It was a narrow avenue, with pavement that was as withered and old as the faces of the old women who stared down from their tenant towers. The shanty housing rose high above the street, and Tallulah noticed the 'hotels' that lined the street. Recently washed laundry flew in the hard breeze like silk flags, and Tallulah glanced up at the lines that crossed over the street.  
"Are you sure you meant 7th street?"

Tallulah continued to glace up at the shabby buildings, while she watched a young boy toddle out onto his tiny porch, supported by only weak looking wrought iron. She could have sworn that the rickety porch shifted when he stepped onto it. She turned away, and then back to the driver, after observing droves of Marines and sailors filing into their grubby lodgings.

"Yeah." She assured him, grabbing her purse as she stepped out of the car. "This is the place."  
The cab driver seemed reluctant, and glanced back up her. "Miss Adams, maybe you should wait for your bodyguards to arrive?"  
Tallulah shook her head, "No. They won't be accompanying me today."  
"Miss Adams, please?"  
She cut him off by shoving another twenty-dollar bill into his hands. "Please?" She begged, her forehead crinkling. "I would really appreciate it."  
She knew what he was thinking as she looked into his conflicted eyes. She knew he didn't want to be the driver that dropped Essie Jo Adams off in a dirty alleyway only to learn later she'd been beaten and raped- possibly killed. He had made up his mind, so Tallulah decided it make it up for him. She slipped another bill into his hands, and stepped away from the curb. "And if you call anyone." Tallulah threatened, "I'll take all that money back…"  
The man grit his teeth and sped away, leaving Tallulah as she had requested- alone on 7th street.

She started walking, she wasn't even sure where to. Her heels ground against the cracked cement, but she never once stepped in a crack. She got plenty of whistles and catcalls as she strode down the sidewalk, her blonde hair bouncing while her pumps clicked against the concrete. But she walked on, finally turning into a random hotel. The lobby wasn't even as big as he own apartment at home, and the white tile was stained so that it was actually yellow.

She marched up to the front desk, and gave the receptionist a tight smile. "Hi, do have a Sidney Phillips here?"  
The woman sighed, and glanced at her dress. Her wanting gaze took in Tallulah's heels, and "What da you want Lady?" She grumbled, still eying Tallulah's glossy shoes.  
"Sidney Phillips." Tallulah told her, eying the rows of keys behind the desk. "I want to see Sidney Phillips."  
The woman muttered to herself, and flipped through a few pages of a small chart. Tallulah studied the floral pattern in her worn dress, which she determined to be poorly drawn roses. A small brassy plate clung to her breast, and the name stenciled across it read 'Cindy."  
"He's in 403."

Cindy's voice started Tallulah, who quickly looked away from the pattern on her dress.  
Tallulah nodded her thanks, and charged up the stairs, choosing not to take an elevator. She dashed up four flights, and suddenly found herself in front of room 403. She raised a hand to knock on the door, and found that her hands were again shaking, like it had been when she had first seen him.  
She struck the door with her fist, and waited, but there was no answer. She glanced at the room number, mentally saying it as if to correct herself. It was no doubt, the right room. She knocked again, and there was still no answer.

Tallulah heard unmistakable thudding against a wall, and instantly knew what the pounding noise was. When a scream and a moan followed a few moments later, it only served to reinforce her first thought. It coursed through her, and sent a wanting pang deep between her legs. She could picture the entire scene that was unfolding behind those wall, as if were some explicit movie. He was collapsing onto her now, as their sweat mixed together. She was panting, and stroking his bare back, as he whispered sweetly in her ear. She looked up and said that she loved him. He promised her loved her too.  
But he hadn't meant it.

Suddenly, Tallulah couldn't breath in the hallway anymore. She couldn't bear to think of it any longer.  
Horrified, Tallulah burst through the door to room 403, a desperate hand clasped over her chest.  
"Oh god Tal!"

Tallulah looked up, and saw Sidney Phillips hurriedly covering himself with a white towel. His hand scrambled to secure the rough towel around his waist, as she bit her lip and looked away, blushing. Finally, with his covering secure, he laughed easily, and Tallulah turned back to him. His skin was darker than she'd ever seen it. Even darker than that year he'd spent the entire summer in her cornfields, planting and sewing seeds with her father. There were strong, tight muscles in his abdomen that rippled under the dark skin- she'd never noticed them before. Probably, because they hadn't been there before. His arms were filled with wiry muscle, that had probably come from hauling a mortar gun around muddy jungles.  
She laughed too, at the sight of him all wrapped up in his towel. He smiled and the entire room seemed to glow brighter than his blonde hair.

"It's been too long Tallulah." He murmured, as he sat down on a hideous pink couch, that had stains all over it. "I hardly recognized you."  
She cringed at the statement, biting down on her lip. She liked to think they hadn't changed her that much. "Oh really?" She asked, her voice weak. "I thought I looked about the same."  
He chuckled, and the soft sound of his laugh was soothing. "I ain't seen you since you were 16 Tallulah. You grown up some." She snorted at his sense of seniority. "You're only 20 now Sidney Phillips." She reminded him, "You ain't old neither."  
He smiled again, and motioned for Tallulah to come sit with him. Disregarding the stains, Tallulah sat down on the couch, while Sid fiddled with his towel. Obviously, the marines had taught him to loose all modesty.  
She stared up at him, and he down at her, both taking a good look at a changed person.

"You're taller." Tallulah noted, her voice quiet as her fingers traced a circular coffee stain. "I think you've grown."  
He shook his head, and daringly reached over to touch the blonde curls so many men dreamed they could. "Aw, sucks. I haven't. But look at you!"  
Although her lips drew up into a smile, it was an unhappy expression. She knew all too well what he was going to say, what features of hers he would comment on.

It began as she predicted, while his fingers rubbed strands of her hair together. "Your hair!" He exclaimed, shaking his head. "It's blonde than mine. And you used to be such a redhead." She said nothing, while he glanced around for the freckles that used to spot her face. "And your, look, where'd your freckles go Tal? Ain't got no freckles anymore?" He pinched her nose playfully, and again she could only smile sadly up at him. "They didn't dye your face did they?" A small laugh escaped her, as he grinned. "You're a different girl Tal! You're Essie Jo!"  
She turned quickly away, so that he wouldn't see the tears that sprung instantly to her eyes at his words. How could she possibly look so different when he looked exactly the same to her? When he looked so familiar?  
"But I'm still me!

He chuckled, and drew her up into a tight hug, that seemed to melt away the stress. When she broke their embrace, the tears had disappeared back  
into her green eyes. "I know. I know. You'll always be Tallulah Kendall to me."  
She let out an audible sight, instantaneously comforted by his new promise. "I've never wanted to be anyone but Tallulah."  
"Well your Tallulah to me." He winked at her, "Although, I can say, I was shocked when I saw you out there."  
"Believe me, I was shocked when I saw me for the first time too."

There was a slight silence that descended between the two of them, and all that could be heard was the scratching of Tallulah's nails against the grimy fabric.  
"I've got your posters."  
She glanced up to his eager face, his sweet, childlike features proud. She shook her head, blushing embarrassedly. "I wish you didn't."  
"Tal, everyone's got your posters! You're a knockout."  
She snorted, "I hate them Sidney. I them posters."  
Sidney rolled his eyes, and raised a blonde eyebrow. "No one else hates your posters! In fact, everyone loves your posters."  
"They're skanky. I know what you must think of me-"  
Sidney quieted her by placing an arm around her, and making a small shushing sound. "I don't think anything Tal. Except for that you're beautiful, stunning, and obviously making loads of cash."  
Tallulah nodded, and glaced up at him. "Yeah, I am making money. Sending it to my family…"  
"Oh, how is your family?" Sidney asked. He felt stupid for not asking any sooner.  
"They're good, Momma-" Tallulah paused, and stared out at the sun that was just beginning to dip behind the tall tenant towers

"Would you like some dinner Sidney?" She asked, watching some linen flap around in the breeze.  
He smiled at her, and his cheeks turned red. "Tallulah, honestly, I ain't got no money with me now. I'm plum out- I spent my last bit on-"  
"Oh, no no no. Sidney, no. I ain't asking you to pay. I'm asking if I can take you out to dinner."  
The idea seemed to baffle the sweet Southern boy, and he chewing on his lip, his mind gnawing on the idea. "Tal, I couldn't let you do that! I've never once made a lady pay, and never will. Especially a friend."  
"Oh don't be silly Sid. Suck up your pride and go to dinner with me!" She stomped her foot against the dirty floor of his hotel room. The smash of her heel against the tile, prompted him to rise from the chair. "I'll borrow some cash from Dewan."  
She placed a restraining hand on his chest, her fingers lightly pushing him back down to a sitting position. "Alright." She began, her voice smooth as she stared at the tiny kitchenette in his room. "Lemme cook for ya."  
Sid's blue eyes went wide, and he shook his head. "Oh, Tallulah, that's hardly appropriate anymore. Darling, you let me-"  
She was filled with a horribly pressing urge to cook, to make, to create something to would please him. Anything. She glared at him, her emerald eyes holding his disapproving gaze.  
"Let me cook for you."

He felt spellbound by those green jewels that served as her eyes, and he couldn't say no. He also could feel his resolve dropping as he imagined hot, fried chicken or boiled shrimp on a plate before him.  
"Alright. Fine. If it makes you happy Tal."  
She smiled, and clapped her hands together, obviously excited. She sat down next to him, and grinned, exposing her perfect smile. "What do you want to eat?"

He laughed, and his head swung from side to side in embarrassment. "I can't believe you're doing this for me! Essie Jo Adams is making me dinner!"  
She smacked him hard on the head with a spoon she had picked up from the kitchen. He cursed, and rubbed his head sheepishly while she jabbed the spoon at him.  
"Essie Jo ain't here stupid! I'm here. Tallulah Kendall Adams, your friend, your neighbor is making dinner." She rapped the spoon against her hand. "What do you want to eat?"  
He raised his hand in surrender, noting not to ever call her that name again. "Okay. Tall. I want shrimp, with cocktail sauce. Corn, and collards. And pie." He folded his arms, and grinned confidently at her. "You get all that?"  
She shook her head at his sudden cockiness, and threw the spoon at him. "You bet I do." She trotted over to the phone, and dialed the number of her driver.

After talking for a moment, she hung up the receiver, and sauntered towards the door.  
"Going to the grocery store." She announced, flipping a strand of hair out of her face. "You ccming?"  
Sidney grinned and jumped up off the couch just in time to open the door for her. "Of course."  
She smiled up at him, and he wrapped an arm around her. "I'm so glad you're here Sid."

He nodded, and squeezed her side. "I'm glad I'm here too. But I wanna know about this whole poster girl deal! I ain't heard from you. You never wrote me."  
"Ain't nothing to it."  
"I wanna hear about Essie Jo."  
Tallulah fixed him with an exasperated glare, which soon softened into a smile as soon as blinked innocently at her.  
"Do I need to get my spoon?" She joked, waving a hand warningly in the air.  
He shook her his, sending his blonde curls bouncing. "No, I'll be good to you. I promise."

Their eyes met in the warm dimness of the dirty hallway, and Tallulah slipped an arm into his.


	7. Ain't you heard yet?

**Thanks to my amazing reviewer, and friend Ber1719. She flatters me wayy too much by leaving comments as nice as she does on here. Hope everyone enjoyes this chapter. I see ya'll putting this thing on story alert, so come on and review ;) Don't be shy!  
Anyways, enjoy :)  
EllieMayy  
**

Later that night Tallulah stood at the counter, filling her piecrust with fresh berries she'd purchased at the market. They oozed into the crust, dark globs moving like syrup. She glanced over at the disgusting pink loveseat, where Sidney had curled up with his magazine. Recently, it had dropped from his hands, as his head fell back onto the armrest. She smiled at the sight, and began layering the strips of dough that crisscrossed the top of the pie. Her fingers pressed skillfully into the pie, rounding the edges perfectly. Once she was satisfied with her work, she shoved the pie into the oven. She reached for the ketchup to make the cocktail sauce, and slammed the over door closed with a kick.

The banging sound sent Sidney flying forwards into a sitting position, instantly awake. His eyes darted around the room around, his pupils wide as he searched for the source of the banging. He suspected the noise had come from a .45. But as he glanced around the room, he didn't see the wet jungle, or the sloppy mud. There was no barrage of light the greeted his opening eyes. Where were the shrieking Japs or screaming injured that had just been shelled? Where was his Springfield? He glanced down at his chest, and felt the fabric. Where the hell were his dungarees? Where was his foxhole? He didn't see a row of barbed wire and dirt surrounding him.

Instead of staring out at a jungle battleground he woke to the surprising sight of an angelic looking woman, leaning over the counter, grinding horseradish. Her hair glowed a little in the dim light of the dirty kitchenette, and her figure was perfectly accentuated by her adorable apron that was cinched in all the right places.

He attempted to steady his breathing- he didn't want to be seen like this. Leaning up against a wall, she dropped shrimp into a boiling pot of water. She'd already minced up generous amounts of garlic and thrown in into the pot, but only before squeezing a few lemons over the mixture. The steam rose up and into the air over the little stove, and Tallulah dropped the shrimp in, watching them plop into the water. She heard him stir, and turned around, giving him a little wave. "Good nap Sleepyhead?"

Sidney chuckled, and picked back up some magazine from last Christmas. It was new to him.  
"Yeah." He lied easily, shooting her his sweet smile. "Great nap."  
She retrieved a glass of sweet tea from the counter and passed it to him. Gratefully, he clutched it in his hands, staring at the drink as if it were liquid manna.  
"Oh, my God Tallulah."  
She beamed at him, and he noticed how her shoulders proudly straightened. "What? Ain't no good?"  
He lifted the glass to his lips and felt the sweet drink slide down his throat, coating his esophagus with the flavorings of home.  
"It's heavenly!" He exclaimed, taking another swig. He swished the comforting drink around in his mouth, hoping it would wash out the last bits of mud he could still taste in his mouth from falling in combat.

She smiled at him, and began stirring the shrimp. He continued to sit with the glass of sweet tea that she'd made him. Occasionally, he would pick it up and take a slow, savoring sip. There wasn't much talking. They'd joked and clowned around in the grocery store enough. He'd thrown a fish at her, and she had squealed. She'd run his foot over with her buggy, and he'd moaned in pain. His smile was brighter than the large lights that lit up the produce aisle. There was a rustle of paper, and Sidney rose from the couch, and ventured into the tiny kitchenette, complete with linoleum flooring.

"Get out of the kitchen!" Tallulah scolded, waving her stirring spoon at him. He dodged droplets of boiling water that flew off the edge of her utensil , and jumped beside her.  
He gazed down into the pot, and Tallulah laughed at him. "Mystified yet?"  
He nodded, and pointed to the steaming water. "Yeah. You said we're having boiled shrimp." He pointed an accusing finger downwards. "That water ain't boiling."

She shook her head at his lack of culinary knowledge, although she didn't really expect him to understand. "You don't actually boil the water." She informed him, swirling the shrimp around once more. "If you boiled it, it'd be too hot, and your shrimp would be all mushy."  
Sidney's nose wrinkled up in disgust, and his eyes widened as he realized just how much skill it took to make the shrimp he loved so much. "Eww."  
She laughed, and pinched his crinkled nose. "Don't worry. Your shrimp are gonna be good."  
He nodded, and rolled his eyes. "Uh-huh."  
She glared at him, and placed a defensive hand on her shoulder. "Trust me Sidney Phillips. This is gonna be good."  
"It better be." He commanded teasingly, as he pulled one of her platinum curls.  
"You quit!" She warned, as she turned down the heat on her shrimp.

He tugged playfully at another curl, and his grin was devilish. "Never!"  
She snorted, and grabbed a strainer, quickly dumping the shrimp into the container.  
"Lemme help." Sid whined, his bottom lip sticking out. "Lemme do something!"  
Tallulah sighed, and handed him the strainer full of shrimp. "Rinse this under cold water."  
He stared down confusedly into the sink as he turned on the faucet. "Why?"  
She glanced up from stirring her collard greens, and fixed him with a knowing glare. "Cause they'll turn mushy…"  
Sidney groaned and rinsed the shrimp as she had ordered, while she set the table.

Finally, when the table had been set as properly as if would have been for Sunday dinner, Tallulah pointed to a chair. "Sit down Sidney." She ordered, as she picked up his plate and began fixing it for him.  
Sidney sat down in the unstable looking chair, made in entirely out of wormwood. "Yes 'mam."  
She brought their two plates to the table, and made sure his was laden with the corn and collards he loved so much. Tallulah bustled about for a moment more, refilling his sweet tea, and checking the pie before Sid slammed a hand down against the table. "Enough, Tal. Sit down!"

She glanced back towards him, her hands still adjusting her pie in the oven. "You go on and eat Sid, I'll be right there."  
He raised an almost invisible blonde eyebrow, and pounded his fist against the table. "Now Tallulah! You've busied yourself." His usually soft voice was actually harsh, as he pointed her to the chair. She did as he commanded, huffing as she slammed the oven door. "You don't want your pie to burn no do ya?" She asked him rhetorically.  
He shook his head. "No. But I also don't want you starvin'. Sit down and eat."  
She couldn't help but smile back at him as she plopped down into the chair. Suddenly, he grabbed her hand, and squeezed it as his eyes closed. She stared down at the food, and listened to the sound of his light voice.  
"Dear God, we thank you for this day and this food. We thank you for the time that we're spending together, and ask you to bless this meal. In your name we pray, Amen."

She didn't know what to add to the prayer. She hadn't actually prayed in quite some time. But one glance into Sidney's sweet smile and she found herself repeating the uttered word.  
"Amen!"  
He grinned, and stabbed a shrimp with the prongs of his fork. "Let's eat!"  
She watched him devour his plate of shrimp, but only after he'd slathered each one with a heaping amount of her cocktail sauce.  
"Tallulah this is wonderful!" He praised, scooping a spoonful of collards into his mouth. "Wanna come cook on the troop ships for us?"  
She nodded, actually enthused by the idea. "I'd love too! If I could leave here, I'd love too."  
He groaned. "Oh no. I hate troop ships. They are so damn hot."  
He quickly covered his mouth, a red flush promptly rushing to fill his cheeks. "'Excuse my language."  
She snorted and waved a fork at him, dismissing the action. "Don't worry about it. I tell you, I learned words working this job I'd never learned before. I probably curse more than a sailor."  
Sidney inhaled another heaping spoonful of corn, and chuckled remembering some of the boatswains on the battleship. "Oh I doubt it Doll."

He glanced around the room, and thoughtfully pointed his fork at her. "Ya know?" he stammered between mouthfuls. "This is the last way I thought I'd be spending my first home in the states."  
Tallulah scoffed, and pointed her fork back at him. "I didn't know you were on that boat."  
"I didn't know you worked for Esquire."  
"I didn't know you'd been on the Cape."  
His eyes accessed her carefully, and his words were cautious. "I didn't know you were Essie Jo Adams."  
She stared down into her uneaten pile of collards, "I'm not."

Sid nodded, and speared another shrimp before dunking it in the red sauce. "How's your momma? She wrote me once…"  
Tallulah's forehead wrinkled a little as she thought, trying to recall what her mother had said in her week old letter. "She's well. Trying to keep in touch with Teola, who's just having too much fun on her college tour. Mamma's trying to help out Trula, who's having a baby this fall."  
Sidney glanced up from intently basting his shrimp. "Trula's pregnant? That's wonderful."  
Tallulah shrugged and continued. "Mamma loves the new house I bought her. It's near the Sledges place."  
A devilish twinkle gleamed from Sidney's cornflower blue eyes, and he grinned at her. "And how are your future in-laws?"

Slowly, Tallulah looked up from her food, her gaze rising to look Sid straight in the eye. "You ain't heard?" She asked him, her eyes widening with horror, while she imagined having to tell him the whole story. A story she didn't even want to tell herself. "You ain't heard yet?"  
Sid shook his head, and fixed her with a glance full of concern. "What ain't I heard yet?"  
Tallulah carefully set down her fork, and folded her hands in her lap in an attempt to keep them still and out of her mouth. She knew she'd start biting her nails any second now.

"Eugene left me, Sid. He wrote me a letter before he snuck out that morning he left for Camp Pendleton."  
Sidney's fork dropped from his hand, and his eyes shot open in shock. "He left you?"  
Tallulah nodded, and felt her hand rise, and a finger with an already stubby nail slip into her mouth.

"Yeah. Gene left me."  
x.x.x.x

The silence that descended on the little dinner table in the dirty hotel could not be broken by any joke, or comment Sid could possibly make. He stared hard at her, while she stared hard into her bowl of shrimp. He could see it in her eyes now. That harrowingly saddening emotion he'd once noticed guarding her green eyes-he now realized exactly what it was-longing.

He could see her concentrating on her food, willing her eyes to bore into it, as if she could see through the deep green of the collards. It was all an attempt not to cry. But it was an attempt that failed. Suddenly, her shoulders began shaking, and her hands latched on to the bottom of the chair in an attempt to steady herself. Her knuckles were turning white as she clasped hard to the rotten wood- Sid could see it from peeking under the table. Her perfect teeth bit down repressively on her bottom lip, and the bite drew blood. She was quaking before the tears started, falling like droplets of rain onto her plate.

"Tallulah-" Sidney murmured, as he rushed towards her.  
She held up a restricting hand, "I'm not cryin'!" She exclaimed, deniying the very existence of the teardrops that fell from her mournful eye. "I ain't cryin'!"  
Sidney snorted, and didn't bother recognizing her restraining hand. "You are cryin'."  
Tallulah shook her head, and attempted to cover up the water on her plate, with the collards on her plate.  
"It's just the juice from the greens." She informed him, wiping her eyes.  
"If you mean tears from your green eyes, yes it is."  
Her chest heaved weighty sobs, and she rose from her chair. She tried to bolt into the bathroom, but steady hands gripped tightly to her shoulders, stopping her.

Sid guided her to the couch, his grip never weakening even as they collapsed into the sofa. He drew her into his arms, and she let him. Tallulah buried her head in his stable shoulder, and sobbed. He rubbed her back, and noted how wonderfully soft and warm it was, and how perfectly it's curve fit under his hand. He continued to stroke her back, and she found the motion soothing. He whispered gentle hushes in her ear, repeating the word over and over. His repetitive shushing was calming, and soon her sobs abated into small sniffles.

Embarrassedly, she glanced up at him, all too aware of how red her nose and eyes must be. She hated how ugly she looked when she cried. He greeted her with a smile, and continued to pet her on the back, as she straightened up.  
"I'm sorry Sidney." She apologized, pulling away from him. "I'm so sorry."  
She glanced down at the tearstains on his army green dungarees, and shook her head. "I hadn't cried like this is since-"  
He quieted her again, with a small "hush' that rode effortlessly on his warm breath and snaked her ear. She shivered at the sensation, and he pulled a tattered blanket around her, and took her back into his supporting arms. "Don't apologize Tal…"  
Tallulah sighed at the blankets warmth, and the heat of Sid's touch.

"You were gonna be his best man." She noted quietly, glancing up into his thoughtful gaze. "At the wedding you were going to be his best man."  
Sidney nodded slowly, and stared down at her. "I'm sorry I'm not getting that chance."  
"Did he write you?"  
The question startled Sidney, who had lost himself wondering how in the world his best friend had left this beautiful girl.  
"Yeah." He answered. "He wrote me."  
Tallulah shook her head, blinking. "He never wrote me."  
"Not a single letter?"  
"Not a damn one."  
"Did you write him."  
"Twice."

Sidney groaned, and smacked a hand to his forehead. "Tallulah he's an idiot… There's no other explanation, he's just a damn fool."  
Tallulah kicked at the carpet, and scratched the fabric with the pointy heel of her shoe. "He said he had fight. Murmur or no murmur, whether his Daddy said he could, or not. Me or not, he had to go fight. He didn't wanna miss the war."  
Images of the sloppy jungle, the wet heat, the muddy ground, the horrible shellings, the days without water, and the piles of bodies flashed through Sid's mind. He didn't see how Eugene could have wanted to leave Tallulah for that. But then again, Eugene hadn't really known it was going to be like that. No one knew.

"He wanted to do his part. He couldn't go when W.O and I signed up down at the recruiters."  
"He didn't tell me he was going. He left me a note saying he left on the 5:30 train for Pendleton."  
"He shouldn't have done that."  
"He told me not to wait for him."  
"Are you waiting for him?"

Tallulah gnawed on her bloody lips, and finally met Sidney's gaze to find his blue eyes were pensive.  
"No." She breathed, "I ain't waiting for him. I quit waiting the day that I signed with Esquire."  
Sidney squeezed her arm, and glanced at her curiously. "Why'd you join?"  
She snorted. "Money. I needed to put Mama and Daddy up in a nice house, and send Teola to college. If Eugene wasn't gonna pay for it- I needed to."  
"You got 'em a new place?"  
"Yeah, Lee street."  
Sidney whistled at the fancy location of the new residence. "Dang, Tal, you sure got them a nice spot."  
"I did."  
"And the old house?" He winked at her, and continued the question. "Nowhere?"  
She shrugged, "It's still there. I think it always will be."  
Sidney's face broke out into a beam, that served to illuminate the darkened room. "I love that old place."

As quickly as she had come into his arms, she left them, jumping off the sofa. "My pie!" She exclaimed, cringing as she ran towards the oven.  
Sidney cringed too, when she left his arms.  
But not because of the possibly burning pie.  
It had felt so nice having her there.

She stared into the oven, and Sidney watched her deliberate over her pie. Her pretty blonde curls fell down into her face, and her butt bulged against the back of her gingham dress. She slipped on two oven mitts, and removed the pie, placing it on the table with a smile. Sid couldn't believe that Eugene had left her for war. Even if he hadn't known, he'd chosen his patriotism over a beautiful, peaceful life with an angel like Tallulah. Maybe he would have made the same decision had he been in Eugene's shoes, but hindsight is always 20/20. And with better vision and the guide of experience, Sidney Phillips thought his best friend was also the biggest idiot in the world.

She was slicing the pie and placing it carefully on new plates, when she called to him, waving the knife in the air.  
"Sidney come on! Pie's ready, and it ain't even burnt!"  
He grinned and sat down at the table, unsure of what divine sight to look at- Tallulah or her blackberry pie.  
She made his decision for him, as she sat down beside him, and poked her fork into the pie.  
"You used to win county fairs with these pies didn't ya?" Sidney asked, as he gobbled up some of the dessert. It really wasn't a question but a statement, he knew she'd won six times with this exact recipe.

She laughed, and looked up comtemplatively. "Oh, I did didn't I? I think I won it-"  
"Six times." Sid finished, shooting her an awkward grin. "You won six times."  
"And how'd you know that?"  
"I uhh, just remember."  
She laughed for only the second time that night, and the sound filled the dull room with a melodious harmony.  
"I can't believe that I'm eating one of your Mobile Alabama pies in the most god-awful hotels in all of NY."

She glanced around the room, for the time that night really taking in their settings. Even from a distance Tallulah could see that the mattress was lumpy, and that the bedspread was worn. The mirror that hung on one wall was speckled and cracked, and Tallulah noticed how horribly the rose color of the sofa and bedspread clashed with the green of the carpet. Everything was stained with some type of substance- be it coffee, blood, or ink.

She glanced back up at him, and popped her lips. "Yeah, I guess it is pretty bad. Could I offer you a room in my apartments for the night?"  
Sidney didn't want to imagine the sort of immaculate apartment that Tallulah must have lived in. He shook his head.  
"No. But you can invite to breakfast over there. I've you've got time, and if you make breakfast as good as you make your pies." He winked, and nodded down at the purpish desert. "It was mighty good.  
Tallulah thought about the shoots that were due in the morning, extra shoots that Frank had scheduled, but she found herself nodding.

"I'd love to have breakfast with you Sidney."


	8. Waiting on you

**Thanks to my loyal readers :) Ya'll are both wayy too nice, but I'm so glad your enjoying the story! Hope this chapter doesn't disappoint. But disclaimer- it's like really fresh off the press. So handle with caution. Lol. Reviews make Sideney grin adorably :)  
EllieMayy  
**

_For the 40th straight day in a row, the rain was so heavy that Sidney couldn't hear the snoring of Runner Connelly beside him. At first he'd actually welcomed the rain. It drowned out the sound of Runner's snoring- it was nice to drink instead of that salty water he'd grown so accustomed to on Guadalcanal._

_But after 40 days, he had grown sick and tired of the everlasting downpour. The rain was so heavy it felt as if he had a constant, personal waterfall drenching him at all times. It beat down upon the green tents that seemed to blend into the lush jungle, and never relented. Little by little it sopped the insides of the shelters until nothing was dry. Even when the downpour could be escaped, the uniforms were still soaking._  
_They never dried._  
_The 1st marines had been living in the same dungarees they'd landed in. Sid set down a cup of diluted coffee, suspecting that it had been infused with a healthy dose of ever-present rainwater._

_He had to piss._  
_Sometimes he seriously considered pissing himself- wouldn't make him any more drenched._  
_He was already sopping wet. He was always sopping wet._  
_he deliberated over it, he never did though, out of pitying respect for all the guys with enuresis, who couldn't help but piss themselves. He stared out at the mud, and watched the raindrops form puddles atop the grey slop. His forehead crinkled while he scowled down at his ultimate enemy- the mud. He accessed the depth of the slop. Calculatingly he guessed the disgusting mire was probably only about three feet today. Before stepping outside, he slipped off his moccasins- he didn't want to risk losing them in the knee-deep morass of filthy muck. With a deep breath, he stepped outside the tent and immediately sank. His feet plunged through the grey ooze, and he felt it sliding between his toes. Cringing, he jerked a leg upwards, feeling the suction of the slop tug at his rising foot._

_"Fucking Larken stole my chest…"_  
_Sid glanced up from staring at his legs that were covered in mud as thick as cake batter, and even topped with decorative rotting leaves that had been pasted to him._  
_The rain continued to beat down upon him, and his eyelashes fought against the persisting droplets._  
_"Leckie?"_  
_The tall figure's shoulders were hunched, and Sid watched as raindrops pelted against his huddled back. He turned slowly, only bothering to twist his torso- his legs were also held captive in the sucking mud._  
_"Yeah."_

_Sid trudged over towards Leckie, feeling the squash of his feet in the slop._  
_"What chest?" He asked as he approached slowly._  
_Leckie turned a face marred by a frustrated scowl up to the rain. "The one we took from that Jap camp? You were there Johnny Reb..."_  
_Sid couldn't even smile at his nickname, while he planted his feet firmly in the mud beside Leckie. The sensation of his feet depressing the slop, only to have it seemingly regenerate and take shape once more, wiped all traces of a smile off his boyish face._

_"Oh yeah. Why'd he want that?"_  
_"Battalion papers. Said maybe my box would keep them dry."_  
_Before Sid could comment, Leckie turned and glared at him, a sarcastically perplexed expression playing on the stark features of his face._  
_"And ya wanna know what I found in my chest Phillips?"_  
_"What I wanna know is how you got to your chest! You bust in his tent of somethin'?"_  
_"I found his goddamn skivvies in my chest! He's not protecting paperwork, he's babying his cock!"_  
_Sidney cringed at the thought of dry underwear, and shifted to relieve the burning chaffing around his crotch._  
_He hadn't been dry in three months._  
_"Bastard."_  
_"If he thinks that he's gonna walk around in dry underwear, when the rest of us are getting jungle rot in our asses- he's very much mistaken…"_

_For the first time since the beginning of their conversation, Sidney noticed specks of once pristine white dotting various places in the mud._  
_Carefully, he bent down, and touched one of the spots- noting the fabric he felt was soft cotton._  
_"He is very much mistaken ain't he?" Sid commented, as he pulled a muddy pair of underwear out of the slop._  
_Leckie nodded, as Sid twirled the soiled drawers around on his index finger tauntingly. "Made him an honest man did ya?"_  
_Again, Leckie bobbed his head. "Yep. Least, now he's gonna be telling me the truth when I ask what's in the chest."_  
_Sid chuckled, and dropped the pair of skivvies back into the mud. "Ain't he gonna know it's you?"_  
_Leckie shrugged his broad shoulders. "I don't care. What's the worst he can do to me?"_  
_Sid elbowed him in the side, "Yeah, you're already in intelligence. Nothing left to strip you of…"_  
_Leckie chuckled. "Except my dignity.."_  
_Sid couldn't help but smirk, "You lost that the night we took a train ride, and you asked Stella to talk a walk with you- hammered."_  
_Even through the pounding rain, Sid could see Leckie's eyes go somewhat glassy._  
_"Yeah." He murmured. "What a night that was…"_

_Sid said nothing, but wistfully remembered how perfectly heavenly Melbourne had been compared to here._  
_"Writing Vera any?" Sid found himself asking. "I like Vera."_  
_Leckie laughed, "You don't even know her Kid. If you met her, you'd be in love with her."_  
_"I like her. I think you should write to her."_  
_"Outta paper. Rain ate it all up."_  
_Sid blew out a contained mouthful of air slowly, hating the rain more with each passing second. He wriggled his toes in the mud and imagined curling his toes around dirt that was actually dry._  
x.x.x.x.x  
Sid shot up wildly, his hands automatically reaching for a rifle that wasn't by his side. But once again, for the second time in 24 hours, there was no jungle, no weapon, no mud, and no japs. He stared in dazed amazement at his lavish surroundings, as he curled his toes around something soft and clean- a down comforter. He ran a hand over his sweaty face, pulling downwards on all his features, hoping his mind might reset like the skin would. But it didn't help. The bedroom he laid in felt even less familiar the foreign, tropical jungles where he had been stationed. The four-poster bed was huge, and made out of expensive looking dark wood. Billowy curtains hung from huge window, that overlook what seemed to be the entirety of New York city, that is, until you looked up.

He stumbled out of the bed, and noticed how soft and, more importantly, how dry the carpet was. He was afraid he might still have mud stains on his feet that would soil the floor.  
A wonderful sizzling could be heard from the kitchen, and the tantalizing smell of bacon wafted through the air.  
He stared at the red walls momentarily- and looked away quickly. He didn't like it.  
There was a voice that emanated from somewhere outside the room. It was light and airy, and even instantly, he knew who was calling him.

"Sidney Phillips! Don't you make me call you to the table twice!" He heard a greasy spatula being smacked against a table. "Your breakfast is ready!"  
Sid jogged out of the room, his head clearing immediately once he saw her perfect face. Tallulah stood at the table, a hand on her hip, and her head cocked to the side.  
"Hard time getting up?" She asked, as she pointed to his plate.  
He nodded, and sat down in the chair, sighing as he smelled the wonderful combination of eggs, bacon, sausage and hasbrowns combining. He stared down at the food, and then back up at her. "Tal, this looks perfect!"

Tallulah grinned, and a small flush came to her cheeks as she stared down at her plate. "Just breakfast." She mumbled, shrugging. "That's all."  
He shook his head, and his eyes widened as he stuffed a slice of bacon into his mouth. "Oh lord, no it isn't Tal. This is heaven."  
She smiled again, all too aware of his compliments as she attempted to stab a buttered potato with her fork. "Thanks."  
"No really, Tallulah, this is heavenly. Thank you for having me."  
She snorted, and tossed a hashbrown at him. "Oh stop acting like it's a big act of charity! It's just me cooking breakfast for a friend."  
Sid finished gulping down his glass of orange juice. "Your very good friend, I remind you!"

She giggled, as he kicked her under the table. "Oh Sid…"  
"Ohh, what?"  
"Nothing."  
"Hmm?"

She shook her head, and attempted to cover her now constant flush with her platinum curls, brushing them awkwardly across her cheek. She never knew why, but he seemed to sap the words away from her. She never knew what to say around him. And usually, Tallulah always knew what to say.  
"More juice?"  
He shook his head, and continued to eat, hoping the action would prompt her to do the same.  
But it didn't.  
She picked at her eggs and her bacon, and then scurried around the table, adjusting the muffins, seeing if the eggs were still warm enough, and asking him if he wanted more coffee.

"Tallulah." Sid begged, pushing disheveled blonde curls out of his face. "Do you even know how to eat? Please sit and eat with me. You aren't my waitress."  
Sighing, Tallulah plopped back down into her chair, but only after checking the casserole for lunch that was already warming in the oven.  
"Fine." She declared, smoothing her apron and her skirt. "I'm sitting." She clicked the heels of her black pumps against the beige tile of her kitchen floor. "What now?"

Sid winked, and pointed to an untouched piece of bacon. "Now, pick up that slice of bacon."  
Raising an eyebrow, Tallulah grabbed the piece of meat. "Now what?" She asked, her voice sharp with sarcasm.  
Sid hunkered down, so that he was eve level with her, and bit his lip, obviously contemplating. "Open your mouth."  
Tallulah let her lips part, and her gaze flashed upwards, prompting him for more commands.  
Sid licked his lips, and pretended to study her from different angles. He tried not to think of other things, besides a piece of bacon, that could fit perfectly into her open mouth.  
"Put it in your mouth."  
Tallulah did as told, and began stuffing the bacon into her mouth, ready to swallow it down.  
"Oh, just the tip Sweetie."

Growling, Tallulah chomped down hard on the meat, in retaliation for what she knew was Sid's perverted idea of a joke.  
He cringed, and made a sucking sound, before grinning at her, his light eyes dancing, enthralled with their own salaciousness. "Oh, not so hard Babe!"  
Tallulah swallowed the slice, and glared disgustedly at him, before tossing her fork at him. "Sidney Phillips! You ought to be ashamed of yourself!"  
He held his hands up in surrender, as he imagined how many times he and the boys joked that one day they'd get Essie Jo Adams to give them all blow job. "I am!" He assured her, his hands still raised in submission. "Very, very ashamed."  
She huffed at him, before she realized he hadn't wiped that smug little smile off his lips.

She flew out of her seat, and smacked him upside the head, hoping the sharp blow would be sufficient reprimand. However, he snatched her hand, and reached for her sides, his wriggling fingers tickling her there.  
She writhed in torturous laughter, as he continued to attack her sides.  
"Oh, quit Sid!" She begged between hallow laughs that left her gasping for breath. "Oh quit! Uncle! Uncle!"  
Her laughing was contagious, and soon he found himself giggling along with her, as her fingers reached under his neck, and he jerked away.

Finally, the laughter died, as their fingers no longer excited familiar areas of their bodies.  
She collapsed back into her seat, and quickly, Sid jumped up.  
She glanced at him in bewilderment, as she took a sip of her coffee. "What the hell are you doing?"  
Sid threw her a little grin from over his shoulder as he charged towards the sink. "Washing dishes!" He announced, as he tossed a few pans on the stove into some soapy water. "You cooked. I'm washing dishes."

Tallulah stood up, stuffing the last of a muffin into her mouth. "Lemme help!" She protested, spewing little muffin crumbs everywhere.  
Sid shook his head, as he scrubbed a pot. "No. You sit down and eat, Tal."  
She glanced worriedly towards him. "Sidney Phillips, ain't never done dishes once in your life!"  
He shrugged, as a small blush rushed to his boyish cheeks. "First time for everything."  
Tallulah glanced up at him, and studied his sky blue eyes, sandy blonde hair, and rosy cheeks with newfound enthusiasm.  
"Yeah." She agreed quietly. "First time for everything."

x.x.x.x  
"Oh, you, you-" Tallulah stammered as she looked down at a watery soap streak that ran down the front of her yellow dress. "Will get it!" She concluded, raising her scrubber, and hoping it looked somewhat threatening.  
Sidney chuckled, turned back to the sink. "Oh will I?"  
She nodded, and grabbed a pan from the stove, and thrust it under the water. "You will. Just you wait!" She scrubbed the pan, and handed it to him to rinse. Their hands brushed together under the trickling of the faucet, and she quickly seized his finger and pinched it.

"Damn!" He cussed, as the pan tumbled to the floor. "You're meaner than a Jap. You know that Tal?"  
She smiled, and pressed an innocent finger to her cheek. "Me? Mean?"  
Sid shook his head, and whistled. "Aw, come on now. I can't possibly be mad at you now. Your eyes are too damn big!"  
Tallulah threw her head back in laughter, and blonde curls cascaded down her back.  
He wanted nothing more than to run his soapy fingers through them.

She glanced up at him, and passed him another pot. "You remember when we used to dig for stones together, right outside Gene's place?"  
Sid grinned, his smile happy with reminiscence. "Yeah. I always loved doing that. We never found a rock that matched your eyes…"  
Just as she had told him ten years ago, she told him now. "You ain't never gonna find a rock to match my eyes."  
He clicked his tongue. "Never know!"

She continued scrubbing, and handing dishes to him.  
"I- uh, got a letter from Eugene."  
Her head shot up, and she struggled to hold the pan still in her shaking hands.  
"He sent you a letter?" She whispered, surprised at how quiet her own voice had instantly become.  
How could he send Sid letters, and not send her one. She'd been waiting for him, for a year now, and had never heard anything. She snorted disgustedly, and gnawed on her lip.

Sid nodded, and when he saw the longing look that passed though Tallulah's soulful eyes, he wished he'd never mentioned it.  
"Yeah- he, he, just told me that he's doing well at bootcamp." Sid cleared his throat, and scuffed his foot against the floor. "I just thought, maybe you'd want to know that he's doing okay. I have it here, if you wanted to see it-"  
He held out a crisp sheet of paper, obviously victory mail, and she snatched it.

_Dear Sid, _  
_I hope this letter finds you somewhere safe. Preferably with some girl. Anyways, I'm exhausted from camp. I tell you what, it's harder than I though it would be. I told mom and dad I'm doing fine, but I'll tell you the truth. It's damn killing me! Well, you survived you ol' greaser, so I'm guessing I will too. _  
_Speaking of, I heard your coming home on a month leave before you get shipped back out. I wonder how you weaseled your way into that one. I think our country was better off with you stuck in some jungle. Or, at least Mobile was. _  
_Me and your sister went down to the shipyards before I left. Took a nice walk down by the bay. You can't go out on it though. They've closed it off. It upset Katherine pretty bad seeing all the ships, but I told her you were fine. I told her at least you were doing your part. I told her that you never got the nagging feeling that you were letting your family, friends and country down. But hell, I made it to boot camp! So I guess I'm doing my part now. _  
_Stay safe, but only so I can beat the shit out of you when I get back._  
_Eugene _

Tallulah stared down at the page. _Eugene took Katherine out on a walk? The bay was all blocked up?_  
"Well, he's right about two things." Sid joked lightly, attempting to grin at her. "I'm safe and with a girl. But she ain't just some girl."  
Tallulah blinked hard against the water that was welling up in her eyes. She hadn't cried about Eugene. Ever. But since Sid had arrived, it had all been a different story.  
She clutched tightly to the pot, before letting it fall down into the sink.  
"Excuse me!" She cried, quickly dashing away from the sink. She ran to her room, hearing the clomping of her heels.

She threw herself onto the floor, and reached under the bed, her fingers searching like maddened scavengers for her bottles of vodka.  
She got her hands around the neck of a bottle, and gripped it like her life depended on it.  
Already, feeling the coolness of the glass had calmed her breathing. She jerked off the cap, and jammed the bottle to her lips, chugging down mouthful upon mouthful of the burning drink. She swallowed it, and clutched her chest, feeling the burn settling deep inside her.  
Tallulah's breaths became rapid and hallow once again, as the need for more alcohol superceded the need to intake air. She continued swallowing until she could no longer concentrate on anything but the fire that she felt in her throat. Eugene and his letters burned in that fire- disappearing into the sting.

When she rose from the floor, she felt better, as she always did immediately after a frantic drink. She straightened her hair and her skirt before emerging from the room, and flashing Sid a smile.  
He tried to smile back, but she knew the sorrow he'd seen earlier in her eyes had scarred him. He'd been a fool to think his presence alone could erase the mistakes of his best friend- at least, not so soon.

"I've got to run in to Esquire for a few quick shots." She told him, daring to look at the clock and calculate how late she actually was. "I'll be back in a few hours. About two-ish. If you want to just stay here an-"  
He cut her off by pulling her into a quick hug, and stroking her back. "Yeah, Tal. I'll wait for you."  
She grabbed her purse from a chair, and glanced back at him. "You promise you'll wait for a few hours?"  
"I'll wait for you." He nodded, and squeezed her side as she headed for the door. "I'll wait."  
She threw a final glance back at him as she trotted out the door, and was shocked at the seriousness in his gaze. She had a feeling, that his words carried even more promise than his pledge to remain for a few hours.  
x.x.x.x.  
"Get up!" Screamed the drill sergeant, as he charged in through the doors to Eugene Sledge's tent. "Drop your cocks and grab your socks!" Eugene hopped up out of bed and tossed his letter back down on the uncomfortable barrack bed. As the drill sergeant chewed out private Jansen for having creases in his sheets. Eugene glanced down sideways at his letter, reading over the script in the dim light.

_Dear Tallulah, _  
_I'm sorry that I haven't been in touch with you more. I sent you a letter about a month ago, and I never head back from you. I don't know if you got it, or if you just don't want to write me back. If so, I understand why. Tallulah, you know any apology I make cannot possibly erase the mistake I made of leaving you to come to this hell they call bootcamp. So if you wanted to know if I'm happy with my choice- I'm not. I miss you like hell. But, I also made the right choice. The only acceptable and honorable choice- even if it meant hurting you in the process, and for that I'm sorry. Maybe, when this is all over, you can forgive me for being the grandson of a confederate officer, and child of a military family. I hope to hear back from you- I miss you. _  
_Yours, _  
_Eugene Sledge. _

He glanced up at the drill sergeant, and suddenly felt a horrible aching in his calves as the sergeant announced the company would be going for a ten mile run.  
"Fall out!"  
Eugene tucked his letter under his pillow, hoping it would be safe until the afternoon and set off for a hellish run around Camp Pendleton.


	9. Asphyxia

**:) Thanks to my good friend Ber1719, and the awesome BloodUpontheRisers, who might I add, could possibly have the coolest name on the site! Haha, anyways, your reviews keep this thing going! So ya'll know the drill- read it, and then review :) I hope you enjoy this chapter, it's been interesting to write.  
EllieMayy  
**

Although Sid promised that he'd wait for her, he hadn't promised the waiting wouldn't get idle. He'd done as much pacing, smoking, and reading as he cared to do in one day. Sometimes, Sid didn't think he'd ever get used to free time. He yawned, and felt water spring to his eyes, which were drooping with sleepiness. He stumbled to his feet, tossing down the magizine he had been reading.  
He felt somewhat inadequate after reading it.  
Apparently, he hadn't done shit on Guadalcanal- John Basilone had done everything.

He plodded into Tallulah's room, where he figured he would nap until she returned. He thrust open the door, only to hear a clink, and then gurgling. Sid slammed the door closed, and quickly picked up a bottle of overturned Vodka. He used what appeared to be an apron to wipe away the clear liquid that had spilled deep into the shaggy folds of Tallulah's carpet.  
"Shit!" He muttered, as he placed the bottle up on a shelf, hoping she wouldn't notice the carpet stain when she returned home.  
He tossed the apron into a hamper, and collapsed upon the bed. He picked up a copy of Hemmingway's Men without Women from her bedside table, and scanned the page. Uninterested, he set it down beside him, only to have it fall off the edge of the bed.

Groaning, he slid out of bed, and crouched down to the floor, reaching under the very edge of the dust ruffle to retrieve the book. But the material that met his unassuming fingertips was not the trusty feel of a well worn paperback- but cool, smooth glass. He wrapped his hand around the neck of what he knew was some type of bottle, and pulled it from under the bed. The bottle that appeared from behind the shade of the dust ruffle was another bottle of vodka- identical to the one he had spilled. He gnawed on his lip, contemplatively chewing on the flesh, as he reached under the bed once more.

And once more, his fingertips found glass. He pulled out another bottle of vodka, and tossed it to the side. He winced as he held up the dust ruffle, and a painful sucking sound escaped from between his lips when he saw the contents she had hidden under her bed.  
Rows upon rows of Vodka lined from the edge of the bed, to the adjacent wall, with small vials of Cognac placed in-between. Quickly he did some third grade math and multiplied the bottle of perimeter vodka together to find the total. "9 times 9…" He mused to himself, his eyes widening as the number 81 came to mind. "81 bottles of Vodka."  
And in between 81 bottles of Vodka, and what Sid calculated to be 39 bottles of Cognac, was one small piece of tattered, folded paper.

Quickly, he seized it, and opened it, unable to avert his eyes before he comprehended the first sentence.

_Dear Eugene, _  
_ I ask myself every day why you left me._  
_ Every day. _  
_Eugene, is there a question you ask yourself every day? _  
_And the question never goes away- because the question is never answered. _  
_I don't think I'll ever know why you left me. I wrote you once, about 3 months ago, asking you, to please, tell me why. _  
_What is wrong with me Eugene? What did I do? _  
_Is it my freckles? Because please, let me assure you- they are gone now. _  
_Is it my ugly, strawberry blonde hair? Because now, it's platinum. _  
_Is it the fact that I actually accepted your proposal? Were you truly thinking I'd ever deny you? _  
_Was there another girl? Because I assure you, she cannot love you like I do._  
_And if it is merely your overblown sense of country- then I wish you had some sort of overblown sense of devotion. _  
_Or some prevailing desire to keep your promise. You did promise to never leave me. _  
_Eugene, what did I do? What didn't I do? I gave you everything I had, my mind, my body… Every single part of me loved you. _  
_And you took I everything I had and left for war- taking all of that with you. _  
_ I told myself that I was fine without you, but Eugene, I can't breathe without you here. I'm suffocating, asphyxiated without you._  
_Eugene, come back to me, because otherwise, I will be stuck-breathlessly waiting on you forever. You've successfully captured me with no hope of escape- at least until I get an answer, or have the courage to mail this letter. _  
_Your always, _  
_Tallulah _

Sid carefully folded the letter back to it's original position, noting the stains that dotted the worn paper. He figured it was probably more vodka. Even though he folded the paper back, he couldn't erase a phrase that had so loudly screamed at him, even in print. "I will be stuck… Waiting for you forever…" He couldn't contain the anger he felt at her captor- the man who had successfully caged her off. Eugene, who had made her rescues improbable. Sidney placed the letter back under the bed.

He couldn't help but be furious at Eugene, the friend who had caused Tallulah to have to hide her true self under the bed, along with her addictive habits his desertion had probably caused. He didn't understand why he had left her. Even if it was for his country. But maybe, that was because Sidney Phillips had been in love with Tallulah since the day he laid eyes upon her 10 years ago. He wouldn't have left her- but then again, he knew firsthand what naively patriotic Eugene was leaving her for. Small dots of land covered by horribly dry wastelands, or dark, wet jungles that writhed and wriggled.

He couldn't have left that sweet smile, or those enchanting emerald eyes. He couldn't have left her. And he couldn't believe that Eugene had.  
Sid stretched out upon her fluffy bed, and threw his head back against the pillow. He wriggled his toes against her clean bedspread as he ignored the craving to grab a bottle of her vodka and down it himself.  
x.x.x.x

_"I almost burned the intel tent a few nights ago during that banzi charge!" Leckie warned, shifting his facial expression to make it more sardonic. "Larken's tent might have to be burned in the next charge! I mean, he does have important battalion papers in there."_

_There was unanimous groan from the company as they surveyed the remains of a Japanese camp for the sick and wounded. Sid knew everyone was tired of hearing about Leckie chest. He continued to talk about it even after he had dumped the Lieutenant's underwear into the mud._  
_"Either kill Larken or shut the fuck up!" Hooiser demanded, swiveling around to point his gun at a corpse. "I'm sick of it."_  
_"Shoulda taken the chest when you took his skivvies!" Runner suggested. _  
_"Or was it an exchange?" Sid asked, unable to lower his lips from his devilish grin. "His skivvies for your balls?"_

_A round of thunderous laughter erupted, and the jovial, communal sound was enough to brighten the dark jungle, if only a little. _  
_Leckie, pointed an accusing finger around in a wavelike motion. "Fuck you all. And especially you Johnny Reb!" His finger lingered in Sid's direction. "You've gotten too smart for your own damn good!" _  
_Sid chuckled, as Lieutenant Corrigan signaled the company should enter huts in pairs."You're just sore cause I'm revealing the true reason Larken has that chest. You traded." _  
_Leckie glared at Sid, before digging in his pocket and producing pack of cigarettes. "Never know kid…" He mused, offering Sid a cigarette. "Those grenade dropping fingers of mine might just slip up when you enter this hut."_  
_Sid chuckled, and pulled out his lighter, flicking open the top to reveal a small flame. He jammed the cigarette to the device, and then tossed it back into his pocket. He stepped graciously to the side. "In that case… You first my friend."_

_Snickering, Leckie stepped inside the bamboo hut, with Sid right behind him. After a few moments, the two exited the hut, finding nothing. They squashed through puddles of muddy water that were slowly drying. Sid glanced upwards, wondering by what miracle the puddles had shrunk. For the first time in a long time, he could see the sun, gleaming up in the sky. Of course, it was partially blocked by thick fronds, and dark green vines that spiraled overhead. But still. It was shining. _

_However, Sid didn't stare up at the miraculous sight for long. He noticed Leckie's gaze was pointedly downward. Sid glanced down, and stared on, as Private Gibson wrapped his hands tightly around the neck of a dying Jap soldier. The soldier struggled against him, in either a last display of pride, or actual survival. But his efforts were fruitless, and Gibson's grip tightened, and the Jap's airway was restricted._

_ Soon, Gibson lay his head back down on the ground, and turned to see Sid and Leckie. He grinned up at them, his eyes wide even in the brightest light they'd seen all month. His leer conveyed an apparent pride of his ability to kill the enemy, and his eyes seemed fearful of the disturbing way he had done it. _  
_Sid glared down at the private, and felt his own eyes grow wide when he realized how good it would feel to strangle a damn Jap with his bare hands_.  
x.x.x.x

Sid could feel hands around his neck, he knew that a Jap had silently crept into his foxhole, and was now attempting to kill with those dirty yellow hands. He could feel the tightening and the astonishing pressure. He knew he was being strangled.  
Sid rocketed upwards, confusing the down comforter for the dirt of his foxhole, and tried to sling some at his attacker. He seized his attackers neck, and began squeezing with all his might.  
Except his attacker wasn't a Jap-but Tallulah Kendal Adams.

x.x.x.x

"Oh Sidney! Please!" Tallulah's begs verged on screams, as she felt his fingers compressing around her neck. "Oh Sid don't!"  
His eyes were in two horizontal slits, and it seemed he didn't see her. He kept grasping tighter to her, and her hands flew up to restrain his. "Oh Sidney!" She rasped pleadingly, scratching at his hands, while she felt his grip grow even stronger. "Please!"

She didn't think he could hear her, because he jerked at her neck, as if he was actually trying to break it. "No, Sidney. It's Tallulah, please!" She rasped, feeling the breath barely escape from her throat. She could see black spots appearing at the edges of her vision, and her pulse pounded in her head, as if she had been hanging upside down to long. As he clasped to her neck, his fingers still clutching around her neck, she realized there was no more air. The spots that were encroaching on the center of her vision, suddenly jumped out from the corners. His blonde hair and blue eyes swirled together, as her fingers lost their grip on his.

Then, as suddenly as it had begun, it was over. He dropped her neck, practically throwing her to the bed in horror. He stared at his hands, his face contoured with tormented lines from his gape. "Oh my lord. Tallulah!" He yelled, pulling her up from the bed, and clutching her to his chest as tightly as his hands had grasped he neck. "Oh my god. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." He rocked back and forth on his heel, attempting to calm himself as much as her. Tallulah took huge, gasping breaths, savoring the air that flooded her starving lungs. She pulled away from him, and took his trembling hands, her eyes wide.

"Sidney Phillips!" She breathed, unable to keep the shock out of her voice. "Are you alright?"  
Sid gaped at her, his expression one of complete horror. He shook his head, and picked her up quickly, setting her on the bed. He pushed downward on her shoulder, and prompted her to lay down, as he studied her face, which had taken on a bluish pallor. "I- I- Are you alright?" He asked her, his voice cracking with panic.

She glanced up at him, and tried to sit, but he pushed her backwards. "Sidney I'm fine…" She assured him, squeezing his hand. "Sid, I'm alright. I'm okay now. Lightheaded, but okay." She gazed up him, her green eyes huge with concern. She wasn't sure what prompted his strangling, but she was sure it had to do with something horrible he'd seen in the war. Something, that still hid back in the recesses of his subconscious. She reached up to touch his cheek, and hoped the action calmed him some.  
"Sidney, I'm fine."

He ran a finger over bruised purple spots that dotted her neck, and turned away, his blue eyes welling with tears of disgust. "I'm so sorry Tal. I would never… I can't believe…" His voice trailed off, as hacking sobs overtook him. Tallulah's eyebrows dipped in pity, and she sat up in the bed, and held out her arms. Broken, he entered her embrace, and laid his head on her small shoulder. She ran her fingers through his sandy curls, and let her nails trace comforting patterns into his scalp. She whispered quietly to him, as he shook in her arms- obviously traumatized by something distant and dark; something that returned to him only in his sleep.

"Shush. Sidney!" She soothed, pressing sweet kisses atop his head. "Shush. There now, be still."  
Her southern voice lulled over the words, making each syllable drowsy and comforting as they reached his ears.  
She rocked him back and forth, holding his head to her chest, and her quiet words soon became a soft lullaby.  
She sang to him quietly, until his eyelids drooped once more. And even then, she kept on singing, hoping her voice would somehow dispel the awful entities that taunted him in his dreams.

x.x.x.x  
Tallulah jerked awake as she felt Sidney stir in her arms, which were now numb from his weight. Her eyes batted open and she glanced down at him, feeling the brush of her blonde lashes against her soft skin.  
"Sidney?" She asked, making sure her voice remained soft and smooth. "Are you awake?"  
There was no reply from Sid, who continued to doze on, in what seemed like apparent peace. He made soft snoring noises, as he took deep breaths, and Tallulah smiled down at him. She slid him from her lap, and tugged her comforter up around him. Rising from the bed, she brushed wispy strands of hair out of her face, and snorted.

She really needed to shower. She threw another quick glance over her shoulder, and found that Sid was still sleeping soundly. Grinning, she stepped into her bathroom, and closed the door, making sure to keep the sound quiet. She tugged off her dress, feeling the tight fabric stretch around her curves. She tossed it to the floor, and turned the water on.. She gingerly touched her aching, throbbing neck, and swallowed hard. She stepped into the shower and felt that water beat down upon her. And only then could she let her own tears fall, when she could no longer distinguish her teardrops from the pelting water.

x.x.x.x.x

"I think your shitting us all!" Hooiser informed Runner as he and some of the other men from H company strode down a ritzy New York Avenue. "I don't think Sid's staying with a friend here."  
Runner shrugged, "Hey, I heard it from the guy that had the hotel room next to Johnny Reb."  
Leckie glanced up at the towering skyscrapers, and the tall apartment building that shot up before them. "Who knows? Maybe he is!"

He tossed a cigarette into the pavement, which had obviously recently been cleaned by a street-sweeper. He gazed up at the tall building, and then turned back to Hooiser, who continued to look doubtful. "I bet you 20 bucks, Hooiser." Leckie offered, gesturing vaguely in the general vicinity of the building. "I bet you 20 bucks that Sid is actually staying there."  
Hoosier raised a blonde eyebrow, and patted his behind. "Really, cause my wallet's about to be 20 bucks faster!"  
Connelly snorted, and shook his head as the men entered the lavish building, noticing the perfectly furnished lobby of the complex. "Leckie. I'm putting another 20 in on this bet." His dark eyes stared down at the immaculately white carpet. "I'm betting that Sidney Phillips ain't in this building."  
Leckie grinned, as he sauntered up to the desk, while Hooiser shook his head.

"Never seen anyone so excited to loose forty dollars before, have you Runner?"  
"Never. Peaches is the only one."  
"For you!" Hoosier interjected, winking.  
"Real funny."

Leckie ambled back from the counter, a confident smile on his face. "Looks like you to are gonna be owing me some cash! Heard from that lady right there, there's a Sidney in room 16 on the 15th floor."  
Runner snorted as he slammed his fist on an elevator button, and waited for the lift to arrive. "I just need to know if he wants his room anymore." Runner tapped his foot on the ground, "Cause if he doesn't. I sure could- date's coming over tonight."  
"Ain't you leaving tomorrow?" Hooiser asked.  
Runner grinned, and winked. "Yep."

The men stepped on the lift, and Leckie pushed the button to the 15th floor.  
"Well, I'm glad to know that this entire expedition to find Sid results in you loosing your virginity!" Leckie teased, kneeing Runner in the crotch.  
Runner doubled over, and growled up at his comrade. "Fuck you Peaches." He muttered, clamping down on his lip. "Fuck you."  
Leckie grinned, and began whistling as the elevator continued to rise.  
x.x.x.x

Tallulah drug her hands through her blonde hair, lacing it with a layer of fruity shampoo. She hummed a little to herself as she scruched her hair up, further distributing the shampoo. She ducked her head under the showerhead, and let the water rinse out the soap. She took a deep breath, and stared at the white shower tile littered with strands of sheded blonde hair. It reminded her of writing, scripty, curling writing like her own.

She smiled, her face upturning happily. Eugene had the worst handwriting. When he tried it wasn't bad. But otherwise it looked like chicken scratch. The letter he'd written her the day he left was written in chicken scratch. That's how she knew he hadn't taken any time to actually sit down and write the letter. It hadn't even been in his nice handwriting. But even through the tears, and how illegible of his writing was, she could still make out the very blatant eight words he had left her with.

_Tallulah, _  
_I'm leaving for Pendleton. _  
_Find another, _  
_Eugene _

She shook her head, swinging it violently from side to side. Her mind felt about as clouded as her huimid shower was.  
Suddenly, there was a knocking sound, and Tallulah turned down the water to hear it better.  
She knew it was the maid, coming to clean on her usual Tuesday afternoon. Sighing, Tallulah shut off the water, and wrapped herself in a small, white towel. As she plodded towards the door, she tucked an edge of the towel into her bosom, securing it. She snorted, and flung open the door, "Come in Maggie!"

But her eyes soon widened, at the group of men standing outside her apartment door.  
"You're not Maggie!" She accused, propping an elbow against the doorframe, as she raised a light eyebrow. "Who the hell are you?"

x.x.x.x

The jaws of every man in H company's little mortar group fell to the richly carpeted floor.  
None of them could believe their eyes.  
There stood Essie Jo Adams, wrapped up in nothing but a skimpy white towel, that could have been easily removed.  
Her blonde hair was still dripping wet, and the little droplets coursed down he neck, to her shoulders, and finally down onto her chest.  
Her chest rose and fell while she stood there, and Leckie couldn't help but noticed her breasts were pushed up perfectly against the towel.  
Her green eyes were dancing with some sort of amusement as she stared back at them- as if she found them comical.  
Her teeth bit down on her plump, pink lips, as she watched them in their awe.

Leckie knew they looked stupid. But no one had been prepared for this.  
"Miss Essie Jo, we're uhh, very, very sorry. We must have mistaken the room number…" Hooiser stammered, as all three men began tearing themselves from her and the doorway.  
"Who you looking for?" Her voice was soft, and breathy- far from the smoky, sultry croon Leckie expected her to have.  
Leckie held his hands up, and continued backing away. "I'm sure, we've got the wrong address Mam. I assure you, we're quite mistaken here."

And then from behind her, a door opened and Leckie could see a boy with unmistakable sandy curls and boyish dimples emerge from a bedroom. He walked out in his striped boxers, the loose fabric hanging off his skinny hips. He staggered into the kitchen, and threw open the door to his fridge staring dazedly into it.  
Essie Jo seemed to notice their gaze had shifted, and she threw a glance back behind one of her flawless shoulders.  
"Oh, Sidney?" She offered, as she turned back to them, her green eyes suddenly interested. "Ya'll lookin' for Sidney?"  
All three headed bobbed simultaneous unity, and she grinned at them. "Wait here." She commanded, as she turned and walked off to fetch an unaware Sid.

Unconsciously, their eyes shifted downwards, and all three noticed the swing of her piquant hips against the confines of the tightly wrapped towel. Without bothering to look away, Leckie motioned towards his friends.

"Forty bucks gentlemen." He demanded his voice in a whisper as his gaze stayed steady on her coveted behind. "Pay up!" 


	10. Escapade

** Thanks to everyone for their reviews! Oh my lord, Ber1719, BloodUpontheRisers, HanSolo18, and Singing in Tragedy- thanks so much to all of you. Ya'll keep this thing going. Your feedback is so important to me! So please, like it or dislike it, let me know in a review! Oh, yes. There is a historical/musical inaccuracy in this chapter. Johnny Burnette didn't really start singing until the fifties. But I had the song stuck in my head, and could see something like that playing on the radio in the 40's. So I apoligize for being too uncreative to come up with something new. Anyways, haha overlook it if you can :)  
EllieMayy  
**

"Hey Sid!" Tallulah called as she trotted from the doorway. "You've got company!"  
He glanced up at her from fiddling with a pot on the stove. She couldn't help but notice the redness of his eyes, that spoke of how unrestful his sleep really was. It only served to intensify the bright cyan in his iris. He glanced up at her tiredly, his face etched with lines a man only forty years his senior should have had.  
"Company? What are you talking about?

She came behind him, and slipped her hands around his that were still trembling. Gently, she removed them from the handle of the coffee pot, interlacing their fingers.  
"You get the door Sidney." She whispered, keeping her voice slow and steady as if he was confused or not fully conscious. "I'll make you some coffee."  
He nodded, his head rising and falling in dumb obedience. She placed a guiding hand on his back and pushed him gently to the door. She watched him, worried, as she filled up the kettle and prepared to make coffee for Sidney and his three friends.

Sid led the men inside, and Tallulah shot them a large smile as they all sat down at her table.  
"Coffee's just on!" She announced, her voice excited as she gestured towards the over. "I'll have a crumb cake in the over before ya'll can snap your fingers. Just let me run and change!"  
There was laughing from the men, and Runner glanced down at the table. "No rush." He coughed, as Hooiser smacked him on the back, reprimanding him for his perverted comment.

"Pay him no mind Miss Adams." Hooiser apologized, as Leckie studied Sid's dazed expression. "He's been sitting in a jungle too long."  
Leckie patted Sid on the back, the gesture which seemed to awaken him entirely. "Looks like Sid has too."  
"What?" Sid asked, his forehead furrowing in confusion, and his eyes shooting open wider. "What have I done too much?"  
Leckie and his two other comrades all shared a quick glance before turning their attention back to a newly 'awakened' Sid.  
"Just saying you've spent too much time in the jungle, huh Johnny Reb?"  
Sid nodded emphatically, his head rising with far more enthusiasm than it had. "Haven't we all!"

He turned in his chair to glance at Tallulah, who stood over the pot of coffee, still wrapped in only her towel.  
"Good Lord Tallulah!" he exclaimed, his eyes shooting open in shock. "Where is your dress?"  
Tallulah turned from stirring the coffee to glace at him, her eyes full of an apologetic pity. "Sidney, I was just in the shower, and jumped out to get the door. I thought these gentlemen were the maid."  
He waved a hand back towards the bedroom, his eyes sweeping over her protectively. "Well you go put some clothes on!"  
"Look at yourself!" Tallulah mumbled, as she marched off towards the bedroom, filliping him on the shoulder as she went.  
Sid glanced down at his bare chest, and lower to find that he was only wearing his baggy boxers.

When she was gone, all three men turned to Sid, their jaws still practically on the floor.  
"How the hell do you know her!" Connelly demanded, his expression one of utter bewilderment. "I mean really Sid. Essie jo Adams?"  
Sid shrugged, and settled back deeper into his chair. "Knew her as a kid. I found her here getting of that dock, and I knew it was Tallulah."  
"Tallulah?" Hooiser asked.  
"Yeah, it's her real name. Tallulah Kendall Adams." Sid clarified, waving a hand dismissively as it was common knowledge.  
"Oh." Said Leckie, nodding a little in understanding. "It's like a pen name, or stage name."  
"Yeah. I didn't know it was her until I saw her at the dock. I had no idea she'd gone into modeling."

Leckie chuckled and glanced down at Sid's boxers a pair of suggestive eyebrow rising. "Well did we interrupt something?"  
Sid held up his hands, and shook his head. "Oh, no. Tal and I. No- I mean I wish, but no."  
Runner laughed, and nodded in agreement. "Yeah. I'd say. That's one hell of a broad! I'd sure love to-"  
"So how the hell did you find me?" Sid asked, changing the subject. He didn't like the guys talking about Tallulah like that.  
Hooiser motioned towards Runner. "This guy here says that your neighbor overheard you saying you were going to Upper East. Wasn't hard to find you after that."  
"And what the hell do you want?" Sid asked, as his gaze fixated on the bedroom door, from which he knew Tallulah would emerge.  
Runner grinned. "I want you room. I got a date tonight."  
Sid snorted. "How much did you pay her."  
"Private matter."

Leckie glanced up from studying the patterns in the wooden table, and stared at Sid. "You sleeping any?"  
Sid's guilty fingers drummed against the tabletop. "Not really." He admitted, banging his hands against the table, punishing them for seizing Tallulah so roughly.  
"I don't sleep either." Hooiser told him.  
"Me neither." Added Runner. "And we all now Leckie can't sleep."  
Leckie shrugged, "Yeah. I can't. Dunno if I ever will."

A sudden silence descended over the group, all unsure of what to say without rain, mud, grenades or guns.  
Tallulah emerged from her bedroom, wearing a simple white nightdress.  
It was like an a ray of sunshine had shot through the room.  
Instantly the kitchen felt lighter, and the men were suddenly speaking jovially again.  
"Ready for coffee?" She asked, as she ambled towards the over, her white nightdress swishing around her knees. "I'll get the crumb cake in the oven right now!"  
x.x.x.x

Hours later, everyone was laughing and joking around the table. Plates littered with bits of crumbcake lay cast aside, to give everyone room for their elbows. Their cups continued to be full of coffee, as Tallulah dutifully tended to refills.  
"Great story Runner!" Tallulah praised, rolling her eyes at the boring tale of one of his fishing expeditions. "You should tell that one at parties…"  
Leckie chuckled, while Runner growled. "Yeah, I thought I'd try it out here."  
Hooiser took a sip of his coffee, and nodded towards Tallulah. "This is so good Miss Adams, but I'll be up until at least three tonight."  
"We already are." Runner snorted, while Tallulah swept her gaze around the table, and noticed an underlying tiredness in all the men's eyes.  
"It's not Miss Adams." Tallulah scolded. "It's Tallulah, and thank you. I'm glad you like the coffee."

Runner glanced up at the clock, and noticed the time- quarter past eleven. "I hate to cut things short." He promised, as he stood up from the table. "But I've uhh got to turn in for the evening."  
With great reluctance, Leckie and Hooiser rose too, sliding in their chairs.  
"It's been a pleasure Tallulah." Hoosier gushed, as he kissed her cheek. "I can't believe I actually met you."  
Tallulah giggled, and shook her head. "Isn't much to see!"  
Leckie cast an arm over hr shoulder as he pressed a kiss into her other cheek. "Dunno about that Tallulah. I feel like there's lots to see."  
She laughed, and smacked him on the arm. "It was my pleasure Private Leckie…"  
Hooiser and Connelly headed for the door, waving before they stepped out into the hall.

Leckie turned to Tallulah, and pointed to Sidney, who sat reading on the couch. "Take care of him." Leckie told her, his lackadaisical gaze finally becoming intent.  
She nodded. "He's having a hard time."  
He sighed, and his broad shoulder sagged. "Who isn't? But take care of him. I think he needs you."  
Tallulah said nothing, but could only think about how much she needed him too.  
When she looked at him she forgot some things.  
Things that even her vodka couldn't blur.  
Things her cognac couldn't erase.

She saw home in his sandy blonde hair, and bright blue eyes.  
She saw the sea and sky in his eyes, the soil in his tan, and the wind in his rustled hair.  
And it comforted her.

"I'll take care of him." She promised, as Leckie pointed to her neck.  
Quickly, she fiddled with the neckline of her nightdress, but knew it was useless.  
"He didn't mean to do that." Leckie informed her, staring at her neck, his gaze weighty with sadness.  
"I know."  
Leckie gave her a final wave, as he stepped towards the door. "Miss Adam, I hope to see you again soon."  
She nodded, and returned his wave with a large smile as she watched the tree shuffle down the hall.

Tallulah plopped down on the couch with Sid, and shot him smile. "I like your friends." She told Sid, as he set down his magazine.  
He grinned back at her, his almond shaped eyes upturning to make happy semicircles. "I like them too. Most of the time."  
Tallulah laughed, and Sidney's gaze grew serious once more as he stared at the purple bruises scattered around her neck.

"Tallulah, I'm so sorry about this afternoon." He began, as hot, red, shame pouring into his cheeks. "I shouldn't have strangled you, or-"  
Tallulah held up a restraining hand. "Don't apologize to me Sid." She scolded, as his fingers crept up to her neck. "I know you didn't mean to."  
Gingerly, his hands traced the outlines of the black and blue circles on her pale neck. "Tallulah. Please forgive me. I thought you were a Jap. I thought you were going to kill me."  
Tallulah batted his hand away, and grabbed him around the torso, squeezing him into an embrace. "Sid, I'm sorry it's like this for you."

Sid didn't have the heart to apologize back to her. To tell her he was sorry that she also was 'like this' because of Eugene.  
He didn't feel brave enough to apologize for her personal scarring- especially when she didn't even acknowledge it herself.  
"Me too." He murmured into her hair cupping some of the platinum stands. "Me too."  
Sid cleared his throat as if he had something important to say. But he made no sound. All Tallulah could hear was their breathing, inhaling and exhaling in unison.

"I have to go."  
She pulled away from him, although her hands stayed on his shoulders. "What?"  
"I've got a bus to catch tomorrow. I gotta get home, the army is paying for me. Plus, I promised Mom and Kat that'd I'd come as soon as I could."  
Tallulah shook her head, "Don't leave me here Sidney." She whispered, her hands clutched to his shoulders while her nails pressed deep into the flesh. "Don't leave me."

His blue eyes held a sorrowful yearning that mirrored her own, and he took her hands. "Come with me Tallulah. Come home."  
A short gasp escaped her, a quickened, desirous breath.  
She'd been waiting to be asked to come home for since the moment she stepped foot on Esquire's property. She'd been waiting for her mother to ask her to come home. She'd been waiting for her sister or her father.  
More importantly, she'd been waiting for Eugene to ask her.  
But here she sat, her hands in those of a familiar old friend, gazing expectantly at her- asking her the question she so longed to answer.

"Okay." She breathed, her head bobbing in complete agreement. "I'll come home with you. I'll take summer vacation early- I'll tell Frank tomorrow."  
"Will you stay home?"  
Tallulah didn't know the answer to that question- it depended on what else her family needed.  
"I hope so."  
"Can we leave tomorrow?"  
"We can leave tonight."  
There was something ungodly in her smile, as if she delighted in the though of sneaking away.  
"I don't have tickets for a bus tonight." Sid rationed, running a hand through his hair. "I don't-"

Her lips gave way to reveal her flawless smile that gleamed in the lowlight of the room. "I've got a car!"  
Sid's mouth dropped a few inches. "You got a car? Your momma always said that she ain't never getting you a car."  
"Ain't living with momma no more."  
"Can I drive it?" There was a spark of childlike excitement in his cyan eyes that dazzled Tallulah. She found herself nodding, unable to stop the bobbing motion of her head.  
"Yeah." She promised, "You can drive it."  
He rubbed his hands together, making hot friction out his excitement. "I can't wait."  
She raised one of her platinum eyebrows that almost blended into the pallor of her skin. "So? What's the verdict? Do you bust out of here tonight?"  
"Hell yes I do!"  
Laughing, Tallulah pointed him to the bathroom. "Then get dressed! We've got places to go!"

Chuckling, Sid trotted for the bathroom as Tallulah headed for her bedroom to gather a few clothes together. She tossed a few dresses into a suitcase, and reached under the bed. She threw a few bottles of vodka into her suitcase, hiding them under the folds of one of her dresses. The letter that she had stashed under her bed was wadded into a ball and thrown out into the trashcan.

Sid was waiting for her when she emerged from the bedroom.  
She noticed he had changed into his uniform, and he noticed she still wore her lacy nightdress.  
"Changing?" He asked her, as he took her suitcase from her.  
"Nope."  
"Alright then."

He took a quick look around her lavish apartment, noting the red walls and huge posters for a final time. He held the door for her, and noticed she didn't give the apartment a second glance. She breezed out the door, her lacy frills shimmying by her knees as she strode onward.  
"Sidney?"  
"Yeah?"  
"Do you know how to get South from here?"  
He chuckled, and held open a final door for her. "Yeah, I can get us home."  
"Good. Cause I sure as hell can't."  
x.x.x.x  
Frank sat flipping though mail that was re-routed to all the models Esquire had. Most boyfriends didn't know that their girlfriends had left home- an Frank enjoyed sifting through the mail sent to the wrong address. Technically, it was illegal. But he thought it a necessary preventative measure he had to take- to filter the mail. Other agencies might send his models a better offer, and he couldn't have that.

He took pleasure in tossing out contract offers the women never even saw.  
But he took a particular pleasure in tossing out personal letters that Tallulah Kendall Adams didn't need to see.  
Letters written from a particular, Private First Class Eugene Bondurant Sledge.  
He didn't need anything distracting her right now, not at the top of her career.  
Not when she was pulling in record amounts of money for the Magazine. He didn't need her running off to a different agency- and he sure as hell didn't need her trying to run home, to Mobile, and to that snot-nosed private.  
He fingered the seal on the latest piece of victory mail Eugene Sledge had sent for Tallulah. Snorting, he tossed it in the trashcan, as he tossed the though from his mind.  
x.x.x.x  
Tallulah dropped the keys into Sidney's awaiting hands, that caught them carefully. He had almost fainted at the sight of her blood red, Chrysler Dual Crown, convertible.  
He fingered the keys, tracing the edges of their indentations as he opened the passenger door for Tallulah. She jumped inside and grinned up at him, motioning for him to hurry.  
"What's the rush?" Sid asked, as he circled the car for the fourth time. His hands caressed the smooth, red paint, and he stood back to admire the chrome decals on her car.  
"Sooner you get in the car…" Tallulah muttered, reaching down for her purse. "Sooner we can get this party started and get home!"

Wincing, Sid tore his hand away from the car's side, and jumped into the driver's seat.  
He sucked air in through his teeth excitedly, while he placed his hands on the steering wheel.  
He paused to savor the moment, and impatiently, Tallulah leaned over and cranked the ignition for him.  
"Sometime today?" She suggested, her eyes demanding him to drive.

He saw it then in her eyes, as she glared at him, stamping her foot.  
The pure desire to leave, the overwhelming sensation to flee.  
Obliging, he threw the gearshift into drive, and hit the gas.  
Tallulah's face broke out into a happy smile, as the sweet of gasoline reached her nose.  
It smelled like a high octane escapade riding on the stiff wind, just like the purring of the car's engine sounded like freedom approaching.

Sid whistled at the feeling of hitting the gas pedal, and feeling pure adrenaline course through him.  
"Damn Tal!" He gushed, "This car is a doozy! Good Lord, look at the steering on this thing-"  
Sidney had been occupied with spinning little donuts in the parking lot, and Tallulah pressed a finger to his babbling lips.  
"Shut up and drive." She commanded, clamping his lips together. "Let's go home."  
His eyes shot to side, and he floored the gas causing the convertible to rocket out of the parking lot with a screech.  
"Yes mam!"

She giggled, and her fingers swiped the radio dial to the 'on' position.  
The radio blared to life, and Tallulah turned up the volume, as Pistol Packing Mamma began to play.

"Lay that pistol down, Babe.  
Lay that pistol down.  
Pistol packin mama  
Lay that pistol down…"

Soon enough, Sid had joined in singing with her, and the two finished belting out the last chorus just as they pulled onto the freeway.  
Tallulah reached deep in her bag and tugged out a pack of Cigarettes along with a trusty bottle of Grey Goose.  
Sid glanced away from the road, and rolled his eyes at her.  
"See, this is why I don't wanna drive." She informed him, pointing towards him with her pack of cigs. "I get to have all the fun in the passenger seat."

She uncorked the bottle of Vodka and lifted it to her lips as she savored the rushing wind that streaked through her hair.  
She lit a cigarette, and stuck it between her lips, while Sid kept his hands on the wheel, like any responsible driver.  
She took another quick sip of her drink, as she fiddled with the radio, chanting for a good song to come one.  
Sid glanced around him, and snagged the bottle from her, taking a fast drink before returning his attention the road.  
Tallulah laughed and offered him the bottle again, which he declined.

"Good choice." She commended, taking another sip. "I need a responsible driver." She reached in her purse and took out a twenty dollar bill.  
He chuckled at the sight, and watched the smoke that blew out of her mouth whisk away into the stiff headwinds. He'd never seen her smoke before, but the sight of her pulling the cigarette from between her lips was attractive.

Suddnely, Tallulah jumped a little in her seat, and she pointed towards the radio. "Oh, I love this song!"  
Sid nodded, and swept his eyes over the approaching darkness that was dotted with taillights. He turned to her, and cocked his head to the side, his mouth slipping open.  
"Oh, you come out of a dream!" Sid sang, his usually ashy voice deepening.  
"Peaches and cream!" Tallulah chirped in. "Lips like strawberry wine." Her own cherry red lips unleashed a cloud of smoke when they parted to sing the lyrics.  
The smoke reached his nostrils, and it smelled intoxicating in the night air.  
"You're sixteen, You're beautiful and you're mine!" He finished, his voice loud.

Tallulah giggled, and watched Sid's hands slide across the smooth curve of the steering wheel.  
She wished she could feel the same sliding against her own curves that were hidden behind her billowy nightdress.  
She closed her eyes, and listen to his voice drift out into the ebony air just like cigarette smoke.

Sid was singing and his head swung from side to side with the music. He tilted his head towards her, and pressed one hand to his chest, imitating passion as he crooned to her.  
"You walked out of my dreams, and into my car,  
Now you're my angel divine,  
You're sixteen, you're beautiful, and you're mine!"

Sid winked at her, and she felt heat rising to her cheeks, even in the cold wind that blew over the windshield of the red convertible.  
Tallulah lifted a contrary finger in the air, laughing. "I'm actually 18." She corrected, tossing her head back to let her curls spill over the seat. "And I'm quite average!"  
She pressed her cigarette back up to her lips, letting the tip slide into her mouth. A motion Sid could not help but sexualize in his mind.  
But he smiled, his grin huge in the darkness.  
"And whose are you?" He asked quietly, their once boisterous voices drifting away into the blackness. "Whose are you?"  
There was no reply from Tallulah, who couldn't believe Sid had dared to ask the question.  
"No ones." She answered, twisting in her seat to let her eyes briefly catch his gaze. "Yet." 


	11. We're going to have a strange life

** Thanks to everyone for their awesome reviews! As always thanks to the lovely Ber1719, she just makes my day with her comments. And also thanks to the awesome BloodUpontheRisers, and amazing Singing Tragedy- yall's encoragement though the last chapter really helped! thanks so much to all of you. Ya'll keep this thing going. Your feedback is so important to me! So please, like it or dislike it, let me know in a review! Hopefully, everyone likes this chapter :) Lemme know!  
EllieMayy  
**

"Pull over." Tallulah commanded, her neck straining as she stifled a yawn. "My turn to drive."  
Sid held up a hand to cover his mouth that hung open as he yawned too. "Why?"  
She stretched her arms out behind her, and cracked her felt the bone in her shoulder pop. "Because you're falling asleep at the wheel!"  
Sid's half-lidded eyes barely shot open at the remark.  
"Yeah, well look at yourself!" he countered, watching her stretch. "You ain't no better!"  
Tallulah scoffed. "You've been at the wheel since we left. We're in North Carolina now, and it's dawn. Hand over the wheel Sid."

Relenting, Sid turned off the road and pulled into the grass that lined the highway. "You've convinced me Tal." He conceded, stepping out of the car. "I'm ready to sit a spell in that passenger seat."  
Tallulah laughed, and slid into the drivers seat, straightening the skirts of her flowing nightdress. "Yeah and I'm quite ready to take a turn at the wheel."  
She shifted the car into drive once more and yanked the wheel towards the road. The car peeled out of the grass, tires squealing as the red convertible spun out into the road.  
"Jesus Tallulah!" Sid exclaimed, as he the engine revved, and the throttle kicked in. 'Are you going to kill us?"  
"Aw, shut up and sleep!" Tallulah told him, pressing down on the gas.

Sid watched the speedometer climb and finally level off at around a precarious 80 miles an hour.  
"I don't think I can sleep anymore!" He exclaimed, as she shifted the convertible into a higher gear.  
She shot him a smile, as the dawn sunlight streaked through her windblown hair, bathing each strand in a pinkish light. "Geez, Relax Sid!" She scolded, taking a hand off the wheel to pat him on the leg.  
Although he wished she'd place her hand back on the wheel for safety, he enjoyed the feeling of her touch.  
"I'll try." He muttered, shifting awkwardly in his seat, suddenly becoming all too aware of the position of Tallulah's hand.  
She laughed and placed a hand back on the steering wheel as they rounded a curve.

She breathed in a huge mouthful of the morning air- wanting not only to inhale it, but to taste it.  
He smiled at her, as he laid his head back on the headrest to took at the sky that had been painted by brilliant pinks and oranges that appear only at sunrise. She glanced back towards the road as they crossed a bridge that lead over the Cape Fear River. She stared down at the blackwater river that curved its way out to the Atlantic. She stared down at the town of Wilmington, North Carolina as they passed. She noted it's pretty old house, and beautiful churches. Even though she was hundreds of miles away from home, Tallulah felt more at ease by the southern sea. The salt stung her willing nostrils, and she felt instantly invigorated.

"Smell that Sid?" She glanced back over at him, to find his eyes were already on her. His head jiggled a little with the vibrations of the road, but his indigo gaze was steady.  
"Hmm?" He whispered, his voice soft with sleepiness.  
She wished she could have laid her own head back against the soft leather seat, and gazed at him- just like he was at her.  
But she tried her best to keep her attention on the road.  
"Smell the sea?"  
His head nodded, blonde curls bouncing around. "Yeah. It smells ten times better than the Pacific ocean."  
"Really? It does?"  
"I promise. It does."  
She smiled, and watched as he settled down further into the seat.  
"Go to Sleep." She whispered, flipping off the radio. "I promise I won't crash us."  
He chuckled. "Yeah. Not sure if I'm buying that promise."  
"Oh, hit the sack!"

Grinning, Sid closed his eyes, and Tallulah watched as his breaths became deeper and deeper and the smile finally faded from his face.  
She took a hand off the wheel, and ran her fingers through his curls. At least he looked peaceful- although Tallulah knew beneath his placid expression, dark experiences were probably flooding to the surface of his subconscious. But she hoped they weren't. She hoped he was really as peaceful as it seemed.

x.x.x.x  
Eugene stumbled into his barrack with three other men from his mortar platoon. His feet ached, his back ached, and god, did his legs ache. He'd gotten used to running the 5 miles in the morning and evening. And compared to drills where he had to carry his heavy mortar cannon- he liked running those 5 miles. But earlier today the sergeant had decided it was going to be 10 miles in the late afternoon head. Sure he'd been running 5 miles here and 5 miles there, but it hadn't been all at once.  
He collapsed onto her cot, already even more exerted thinking about his run.

"Christ!" Exclaimed Private Harper, one of Eugene's bunkmates. "Aint' she something!"  
Eugene looked up from reading his copy of Farewell to Arms, and set it down on the table. His eyes were contemplative when he looked up, and his friends groaned when they realized he was not in the mood to talk about women.  
"Wouldn't you be pissed…" Eugene began, as his buddies rolled their eyes and settled in for one of his literary questioning sessions. "Say, if you were Catherine Barkley's fiancée, fighting in the Battle of the Somme, and let's say you didn't die."  
"If, if, if." Private Muller taunted, his head swinging back and forth which each word.  
"Just listen!" Eugene told him, pointing towards the book. "Wouldn't you be pissed if you came home to find Catherine, and she was already with this guy, and three months pregnant?"

Private Harper's eyes widened, and he looked away from the poster that had him loosening his belt buckle. "Hell, that happens in Hemmingway books? Sounds like the dime novels my mother reads!"  
Private Muller sat up a little in his bed tossing his cigarette on the ground. Eugene didn't know if he was actually interested, or merely trying to get away from the pool of smoke hovering above his head. "You mean, the guy went away to war, and came home to find his fiancée with another man, and knocked up?"

Eugene grimaced, trying to keep his exasperation off his face. He really wasn't sure how the men weren't following his line of reasoning.  
"No. In the book, in Farewell to Arms, he died. But I'm saying, what if he didn't. What if he came back to find out that his Fiancée had taken another, and was pregnant?"  
"What about it!" Harper shouted, an expression of utter bewilderment on his face. "That would be horrible. Ain't nothing about it, except awful!"  
Muller, who was usually quieter than Harper, pulled out another cigarette from his pocket. "Well, hell, I'm sure glad that's just in a book. Ain't no worrying for me anyways. My girl's waiting for me at home. We got a little boy on the way."

Eugene sat down the book once more, tucking it carefully under the pillow. "You ain't never said anything about that! That's wonderful Mueller."  
Bored with the philosophical, and finding his physical needs much more pressing, Private Harper picked back up his poster.  
His fingers were already undoing his belt, readying himself, when suddenly Mueller jerked the poster from his grasp.  
"Before you get started, let's see this broad you've been ogling at!"  
He held out the poster at arm's length, and cocked his ehad to the side. "Yeah, she is pretty nice. Check out them legs!"  
Eugene hopped off his cot and plodded over to Mueller, who held out the poster.

"Oh, Essie Jo Adams!" He noted sarcastically. "I should have known."  
His eyes ran over her gleaming legs that were so toned and perfect. He glanced at her huge mass of blonde curls that was piled atop her head, secured in a messy bun. He stared at her exposed bosom, and the provocative curve of her smooth back as she bent over the hood of a car.  
"Yeah, she's a knockout."  
Mueller patted the poster. "I like her eyes."  
Harper nodded, as he reached for his coveted picture, fingers curling and uncurling in want. "Yeah she's got gorgeous green eyes."  
Eugene lay back down on his bed, and took out his book. "Oh, green. I though she had brown eyes or something?"  
Harper looked offended by the remark, his jaw dropping as he unzipped his fly. "Did you even look at her face?"  
"Yeah. Thought her eyes were brown."  
Harper snorted, "Than you must not have looked too hard huh?"

Eugene rolled over in bed, feeling another pain stab at his hips. He picked up the book and continued to read, while Mueller smoked and Harper pleasured himself with that damn poster.  
He stared down at the print, and read on as Catherine Barkley and Fredric Henry embraced and kissed for the first time. Soon she began to cry in his embrace saying, "We're going to have a strange life."  
Eugene yawned, and mentally offered a vigorous amen to her statement, before turning off his light.

x.x.x.x.x

"Hey, sleephead!' Tallulah called, prodding Sid in his apparently numb side. "Hey, get up, we're here!"  
Sid said nothing but continued to doze away, breathing heavily though his mouth.  
She turned her eyes from the road to glance at him, and didn't have the heart to prod him anymore. He really looked like he was sleeping good. Turning her eyes back to the road, Tallulah stared out at the sign that welcomed her back to Mobile. She sighed in relief, as she glanced out the rearview mirror and watched the back of red hardtop cross the sign that said, "Welcome to Mobile, Alabama."  
She could feel her body relaxing into the seat, and going weak with a feeling of total accomplishment- as if she would have been stopped before she got to the sign. Soon, flat fields of corn and cotton gave way to slightly more urbanized areas.

Beside her, Sid stirred, and she took the opportunity to poke him again. "Sidney, wake up!" She commanded, while he groaned and moved away from her little fingers. "We're home!"  
He shot up at those words, his blue eyes flashing around wildly.  
"Huh? We're here already?"  
She nodded. "Yeah, you've slept like a rock for the past eight hours."  
He ran a hand down his face, tugging at the skin as if he could wipe his drowsiness away. "You've got to be kidding? I slept the whole time?"  
Again, her head bobbed. "Yeah, did you dream at all?"  
A look of elation passed over his face, and immediately the corners of his lips hot upward. "No! I always remember the dreams when I wake. Tal, I slept!"  
Tallulah clapped her hands in sheer delight, and pressed a quick kiss to his cheek, precariously taking her eyes off the road that was leading to downtown.  
"Oh Sid! That's wonderful!" She stared at his face, which seemed even more youthful than ever. "It's been a while hasn't it?"  
"Yeah. Sure has!"

The yards of the Mobile suburbs turned into a blue of houses and grass, but something caught Tallulah's eye. She slowed, for the first time the during the whole trip utilizing her brake.  
"What's that?"  
Sid peered out at the yards, and noticed flimsy little structures made from cloth. "Tents." He answered, his ashy voice deepening with confusion. "Those are little tents."  
Her light eyebrows buried themselves into the wrinkles of her expressive forehead. "Tents? Are they camping?" But soon, the twosome saw more and more fabric shacks dotting the sides of the road.  
"What's going on here?" Tallulah wondered aloud, pushing down on the gas pedal.

Soon, they were driving down past the shipyard. Tallulah spied the old iron gate, with curved metal that spelled out the words. "Alabama Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Co." Although both Tallulah and Sidney had passed that wrought iron entrance before, neither had even seen as many people pouring from under it. Tallulah's eyes grew wide as she watched crowds the size of pre-war Mobile itself exit out the gate.

Sid blinked at the sight, he'd never seen such a drove of people on the Shipyard plaza. Tallulah continued to stare as they slowly drove by it, her red car creeping along. She noticed swarms of women in the crowd- something she'd never seen before. Women never worked at the shipyard. Most wore blue jumpsuits, that reminded her of a picture she'd seen once of some woman, called Rosie the Riveter. Like the cultural icon, the women tied their hair up in colorful bandannas. Many were exiting the building with children in their arms or excitedly holding their hands. Tallulah sped up with Sid's prompting, and he shook his head.

"Doing the job he left behind huh?"  
Tallulah frowned. His last phrase had been muttered with some prevailing sense of pity- and she didn't like it.  
"They're doing fine!" She scolded, "You say that like it's a bad thing."  
Sid held up his hands in instant surrender. "I'm just saying, if you were my wife, I wouldn't want you working in no factory."  
Tallulah raised an eyebrow, and Sid could tell by the slight upturn of one side of her pretty mouth that she was about to deliver a witty insult.  
"Well if you were my husband. I wouldn't want you fighting the war in the first place. So I'd go work in a factory, and hope the supplies I made could help bring you home safe." She fixed him with her confident, sideways grin that he'd known was coming. "Just sayin'"  
Sid chuckled. "Point taken Miss Tal."

Tallulah glanced back out at the bay and noticed the large blockade only about a few football fields away.  
She shook her head at the little boats that were patrolling- it hadn't ever felt that war would actually come to Mobile. But apparently it had.  
The streets of downtown were filled with more people that were at a usual Forth of July parade. Sid whistled at the sight of the line to ride the Trolley, and Tallulah couldn't believe how crowded the ice cream parlor was. The mood on the street seemed jovial enough, but for Tallulah and Sid- it was more somber moment.

"How did I think that things wouldn't change her?" Tallulah mused, running a stressed hand trough her curls. "How did I ever think that this place would stay static?"  
Sid shrugged. "Maybe cause it's been so static our whole lives. We ain't seen in change here."  
Tallulah nodded. "Still. Why did I think it was gonna stay the same forever?"  
"I dunno Tal.  
She swiveled in her seat, her lacy nightdress sliding across the slick leather. "Did you? Did you imagine it would be like this?"  
Sid shook his head, "Nope. Sure didn't. I mean, home is, well home. The constant and sane part of your life- ain't nothing that seems like it could change home."  
"Ha! Except the second World War!"  
Sid laughed, "Shoulda seen that one coming. Shouldn't we?"

Tallulah laughed, and Sid glanced out the window and pointed at a group of women gathered on the street corner.  
"Red cross recruiters! I wonder if they've got any cookies or juice!" T  
allulah hit the brake again as they pulled up to a stoplight, and smacked him on the shoulder. "Sidney! Don't you make fun of them. That's a good, honest career. Nice way to help the effort. You know I wish I was doing that." She turned to watch the women, and noticed a girl from Mr. Hardin's geography class walk up to the little booth and sign her name on the piece of paper .  
"Oh shit!" Sid cursed as he spotted the girl. He proceeded to eye Tallulah in feigned nervousness. "The Marine just lost about ten men right there with her signing!"

Again there was a prompt smack to his shoulder, but this time it was harder.  
Tallulah glared at him, and cranked drummed her fingers impatiently on the wheel. "Sidney Phillips! Mary Lennon was a nice girl! She'll do some good."  
"You remember her in Geography?" Sid exclaimed, flinging a hand in the air. "That girl is dumb as a box of rocks!"  
Tallulah snorted. "I'm guessing you never saw my grade in Mr. Hardin's class huh?"  
Sid elbowed her in the side, and again she batted his hand away. She wanted to watch Mary Lennen sign onto the nurse core. In fact, she wanted to join up with her.

"What you get in his class? C'mon and tell me Tal!"  
"Nuh-uh."  
"Tal, it was an easy class. You couldn't have made bad."  
"78." Tallulah admitted, fixing him with a harsh glare. He realized that a slap would instantly follow any clever remark he dared to make- but he couldn't resist.  
"78? Damn! I think I'd rather just die on the battlefield than have you try to save me!" He chuckled, as he reached out to whap him, her face turning as scarlet as her hair had once been. "I mean, I'd die anyway, you couldn't save me…"

The light turned green, and cursing Tallulah took her hand away from wrenching down on his ear. She stamped on the gas, and the engine roared to life again. She listen to the engine growl before turning to him and shaking an indicting finger at him. "I swear Sid. One day, you'll be on some Godforsaken beach, bleeding out of your arteries, and you'll just be wishing me and my 78 were somewhere around!"  
"I'll just be wishing someone had some cookies and juice!"  
He tousled her hair, and she smacked his arms away, screaming a little as she did so.  
"Sidney Phillips, you make me madder than hell sometimes? You know that?"  
He chuckled, and leaned against his seatbelt to poke her in the belly. "I just know how to push your buttons that's all.."  
She growled at him, before he stuck out his bottom lip in an attempt for clemency.

Finally, her scowl softened into a smile. "Thanks for convincing me to take my summer break now, instead of later."  
Sid snorted, and his blue eyes danced in the brilliant evening light. "You mean thanks for helping you run away and forsake the next few photoshoot? And for probably pissing of Frank more? You're welcome"  
Her smile in response was sheepish. "Yeah. Thanks for all that."  
"What about Frank though? He'll be livid, Tal."  
"Fuck Frank."  
"Easy now." Sid grinned at her temper. Although her hair had been died the whitest blonde, she still had the fiery irritability of a true redhead.  
She nodded. "I'll telephone him later on. Tell him took my month off early."

The downtown area had given way to a quieter area, fields and little wooded areas dotted with houses.  
The sun was fading in the sky as Tallulah pulled up to the driveway that led to the Phillips home.  
She put the gearshift in park, and Sid hopped out of the car. She watched him retrieve his duffle sack from the trunk, noting how the wiry muscles in his arms flexed as he picked up the luggage.

"Should have stopped at your house first…" Sid suggested, pointing to his bags. "I could've helped you carry your things."  
Tallulah shook her head, and smiled up at him. "Good Lord Sid. I only brought a tote full of clothes. I can carry that a few feet to my own door."  
"Still. I could have helped ya."  
"Sucking up to my parents already are ya Mr. Phillips?" Tallulah teased, as he shifted the car into reverse.  
He grinned. "Oh yes 'Mam."  
The car was purring as she pressed her foot to the brake to keep it from rolling. It seemed to growl only to disturb their goodbye, and keep it brief.

"Come see me." Tallulah found herself demanding, staring up at his face which the dying sun had highlighted.  
He made a face at her, and rolled his eyes. "You couldn't keep me away Tal!" He promised, as she released the brake and let her impatient car slide  
"Bye Sid." She called, as she threw the car into drive. Her wheels spun up dust, and he smiled at the sight.  
"Bye Tal!"  
By the time the farwell had left his lips, Tallulah had sped out of his driveway, leaving only a floating cloud of dust that smelled vaguely of her gasoline.

x.x.x.x  
Tallulah pulled up to the new house. The house she had bought for her parents and hadn't yet seen. She had memorized the address from the letters her mother sent her, and now, here she was. The new house was white, and rather large. It was styled to look old, to look like it really belonged in this neighborhood with the Alabama elite. It had balcony porches, and large white coloms like plantations houses she'd seen around the countryside. But it was just posing. Selling itself as an old home, well worn with love.

Tallulah exited the car, and slammed the door to her convertible. She picked up her tote, and began her walk to the front door. It was evident that her mother had been working in the garden. The designated area was lush and green, and planted with all manner of colorful plants. She could see her father's new Cadalic she'd bought him. It sat proudly in the driveway. She laughed at the sight of it. She could so vividly imagine him jumping in that car to fetch Teola, who had stayed out past curfew. She was impressed at how the builders had managed to fit the house between the huge, old oaks on the property. It was so nice to see so much green, instead of the grey industrial shade that seemed to dominate New York.

She trotted up the stairs, holding her nightdress she hadn't bother to change out of.  
For a moment, Tallulah stared at the door to her new home. The white door was as unfamiliar to her as modeling had been on her first day. She reached for the brass knocker, but then realized- it was her damn house too. She turned for a moment and stared out at the approaching twilight that was dying the landscape in comforting shades of purple.

Even though she was finally home- Tallulah Kendall Adams still felt that something was missing.


	12. Flash of White

** To everyone- thanks for the amazing reviews! Ber1719, BloodUpontheRisers, and Singing Tragedy- my regulars, I appreciate ya'll so much. All your comments mean a ton to me, so thanks for taking the time to make them. Alright, the first half of this chapter is kinda boring. Ya know, reunion with the fam, ect. But if you make it through, I guarantee that we'll see someone we haven't seen a lot of in this story! Someone who's pretty dang important. Hope ya'll enjoy :)  
EllieMayy  
**

From outside the house Tallulah could hear footsteps scurrying towards the door. She'd knocked only a few seconds ago, and someone had already heard her.  
The whitewashed door swung open, and Tallulah smiled when she saw her younger sister Teola rushing towards her.  
"Tallulah!" Called Teola, as she flung herself at her sister. "Oh my God! Mamma, Daddy! Tallulah's home!"  
Tallulah caught her flailing sister , and wrapped her arms around her.  
"Oh Teola!" She exclaimed burying her face in her sisters shoulder. "Oh my lord, look at you!"

She pushed her sister away, and held her at arms length, examining the changes just a year had on her sibling. Teola's once gingery hair had darkened to the shade of a deep, rich merlot. Her burgundy mane was it was still as long and straight as it had ever been.  
Her face, which had once been afflicted with the normal teenage blemishes had cleared. She had gotten a bit taller, and her posture was perfect. When Tallulah stared into her sisters eyes, she saw two liquid emeralds- much like her own.  
"You, are so much more grown up that I remember…" Tallulah mused, as Teola giggled at the compliment.  
"Tallulah, it's only been a year!"  
"That's all you needed then huh?"  
Teola pinched her sister in the rear, causing Tallulah to jump. "That's the most backhand compliment I've ever heard!"  
"Bitch!" Tallulah spat, fingers reaching to pinch her back.

Their little tussle soon stopped as soon as Trula exited the house. Trula hurried down the steps, little Tara hanging from her hip.  
"Tallulah!" Trula called, placing Tara gently down on the ground. "Oh, I can't even believe that you're here!"  
Tallulah gave her sister a quick squeeze, while feeling a tug on the skirt of her nightdress. She glanced down to see Tara pulling on the edge of her dress. "Auntie Tal!"  
Tallulah swept the child up in her arms. "Tara, goodness gracious! You're so big!"  
Tara nodded proudly, tossing her signature red hair, trademark of the Adams family. "I'm four."  
Tallulah kissed her on the cheek, and tousled her crimson hair. "I can tell! You're so big!"  
Tara outstretched a small hand, and rubbed a few strands of Tallulah's platinum locks between her tiny fingers. "What happened to your hair?"  
Tallulah grinned as Teola reached out to touch a strand. They decided that they didn't like redheads. So I became real good friends with a hairstylist."  
Teola scoffed. "You say it like it's a bad thing. I wish my hair looked like that!"

The door swing open once more, and Tallulah's father Donald, stood in the doorway tapping his foot impatiently. "Ya'll get in here! Dinner's on the table and I'm hungry!"  
"Hey to you too Dad!" Tallulah called, her voice rising with sarcasm.  
Her father turned, waving a hand in the air. "Hey Tallulah. What the hell happened to your hair?"  
The three sisters burst out laughing, and the sounds of amusement rising high into the air.  
"Alright, before Dad gets any more ornery…" Trula suggested, as Teola nodded. Tallulah took Tara's hand, and the three sisters, plus one daughter, walked up back into the house.

X.X.X.X.X.

"Pass the green beans!"  
Tallulah reached across the table and handed the plate of beans to Trula, who dumped some off on Tara's plate.  
"Ewww." Tara whined, pushing the green strings around with her fork. "I don't like green beans."  
Trula smacked her daughters hand, and pushed the plate back towards her. "You eat them beans Tara!"  
Teola poured herself another glass of tea, and snorted at the scene. "Spoiled, spoiled, spoiled."  
Tallulah's mother, Darlene, fixed her youngest daughter with a stern look. "Teola! Hush!"  
Tallulah giggled into her tea, causing bubbles to form in her auburn drink.

Darlene smiled at Tallulah, who had already whiffed down a plate of green beans, fried squash, and roasted chicken.  
"You hungry sweetie?"  
Tallulah nodded, as she tossed a couple of squash pieces into her mouth. "You've no idea. New York is all about Italian!"  
Her mother made a face, "Ugh. I don't know how you survived."  
Teola smacked her fork down on the table, "Yeah, but she got to see John Basilone!"  
Donald, raised a graying eyebrow, and fixed Tallulah with a knowing glare. "She's in love with John Basilone…"  
Tallulah laughed, while her father continued. "She ran out and bought those posters of you and him! Just to have him on her wall."

Tallulah blinked at Teola, and set her fork down on the table. "Why'd you buy those posters?"  
Teola glared at her, as if her sister was literally insane. "Tallulah, have you not looked at him? Did you even look at his dreamy hair while you were shooting with him?"  
Tallulah nodded, "I looked at him, yes. But really Teola, it's weird that you have me on the wall."  
Teola shot her sister an evil little grin. "Oh, you're not in it! I cut you out of the picture."  
Tallulah's eyes shot open as she tossed a fork at her sister. "You witch!"  
Darlene smacked a hand down on the table. "Ya'll quit squabbling! It's Tallulah's first night home, and everyone's already fussing."

Teola and Tallulah both rolled their eyes, each catching the others smile.  
"Yes Mam." They chorused, as Donnie chuckled and picked up another helping of fried squash cookies.  
"Alright! Now that we've already started one incendiary topic... Let's start another! Teola, why weren't you home until 11 last night? Just where in the world did that boy take you?"  
Teola glanced up from her food, crimson embarrassment filling her cheeks.  
"Dad!"

x.x.x.x  
After dinner, Tallulah's older sister, Trula took her hand and led her up the spiraling staircase.  
"You're going to love your room!" Trula gushed, her mouth never leaving the smile it seemed to be fixed in. "We made you up such a pretty room!"  
Tallulah smiled, and ran a hand appreciately over the smooth railing. "Really? Cause with how much I paid for this house, I hoped you'd get me a nice room!"  
Trula patted her hand, her own shaking a little with excitement. "You're going to love it. We patched up that old quilt of yours, and blew up some lovely photographs of you and your friends."  
Trula threw open the door to a large bedroom, and motioned Tallulah inside.  
"See, isn't it pretty?"

The room's had pale green walls that went nicely with the large white quilt, dotted with pastels squares. The floor was made out of old hardwood, that would have shone like molten gold if it had daytime. From her bedroom windows, she could the braches of sweeping old oaks, which was far more comforting to her than rocketing skyscrapers.  
Around the room hung assortments of pictures, all hung in the same gleaming hardwood as her floor. She marched up to a picture, and her fingers traced the outlines of figures.

"It's you and Me." Trula whispered, nodding towards the picture that had captured two little girls that were tossing shells high in the air on Dauphin Island.  
"I think I was about 7, which would have made you about 4."  
Tallulah grinned at her sister, and pointed to their small footprints in the sand. "I remember that beach. We should go sometime on my vacation."  
Trula shook her head, the motion saddened. "We can't. They've barricaded the island."  
"Oh."

Again, Tallulah was shocked by how much home had really changed, and could find no other words to expression her surprise.  
Trula pointed to another photograph. "Look, there's you and Gene. Right before church one morning!"  
Tallulah smiled at the picture- even though it hurt, the image made her lips upturn into a smile. The little boy looked stiff and uncomfortable in his coat and tie, and glared out at the camera. A 4 year old Tallulah smiled for the picture, clutching a flower and Eugene's hand.  
"Lord." Tallulah breathed. "That was so long ago!"

Trula nodded, and placed a hand on her expanding stomach. "He'll come home to you Tal. He's always done the right thing by you."  
Tallulah watched her sister rub her belly, as if touching the growing area somehow inspired her with wisdom. "He'll come back for you."  
Tallulah said nothing, and attempted to keep her expression passive.  
But it was no use.  
Glancing into her sisters eyes, Trula noticed how they looked like two gaping wounds- torn and broken.

"He just needs to do what's honorable… And then he'll be back."  
Again, Tallulah watched her sisters hands play on her bulge. "I know he will."  
"Maybe."  
Trula petted Tallulah on the shoulder, and gave her a small hug.  
"I'm going to bed Tal. My back's killing me tonight."  
She plodded towards the door, and when she reached it, turned back around. "Don't stay up too late now huh? And if you see Teola sneaking out- just don't tell dad?"  
Tallulah laughed, and her snort of hilarity was also her wordless agreement.  
Trula nodded in thanks, before closing the door.

Alone, Tallulah decided to be practical instead of spy on Teola, who would probably be sneaking out any moment now. She grabbed her duffle, and threw open her closet to unpack her clothes. She was sliding her new dresses onto any empty hangers she could find, when a piece of white cloth caught her eye.

Confused, Tallulah tugged on the edge of the fabric, and it emerged from between the other clothes.  
She stared down in horror, trying to push it back into the folds of other less meaningful dresses, her cocktail dresses, or Sunday best.  
But it was too late.  
She'd already seen it.  
That damned, lacy dress made of white silk with beading on the bodice.  
That damned dress that she had been prepared to pledge herself away in.  
That damned wedding dress Eugene had bought her.

She tried to put it back in place, but removing it from sight now was too late.  
The piercing white epitome of her failure, the lacy essence of her broken future, and the silken personification of his forgotten promises burned through her retinas and corneas.  
She found the white instantly blinding, and turned away.  
Hoping, that she could turn the image from her mind.

x.x.x.x

_"Eugene, please!" Tallulah begged, tugging on his shirttail, "I haven't gotten dressed!"_  
_Laughing, he quickly grabbed her hand and pulled her down the steps of her house. Tallulah stumbled down the rickety stairs, tripping over the edge of her floor length nightgown. _  
_"Eugene!" She exclaimed, "I don't even have my shoes!"_  
_She felt the gravely sand scraping against the soles of her feet, while Eugene tugged on her arm. _  
_"Don't matter!" _

_Tallulah tried to pull away, but his grip was far too strong. _  
_"Aw, come on Tal!" Eugene pleaded, his copper locks glimmering slightly in the first light of morning. _  
_"It's six in the morning Eugene!" Tallulah reminded him, her voice harsh as she fought to preserve rationale. "My daddy will have a stroke if he looks in my room this morning and sees I ain't there!"_

_Eugene pulled on her arms again, pressing her reluctant hand to his eager lips. "Your daddy will be fine. I promise you."_  
_She planted a foot in the ground and glared at him, daring him to continue. "What the hell do you have up your sleeve Eugene Sledge? You're the most bookish, boring person I've ever met, and this morning you just decided to be spontaneous?"_  
_Eugene hauled her in, his hands climbing up her arm until he had pulled her close. "Bookish and boring as I may be…" He murmured, pressing fast kisses into her flushing cheeks. "You're so in love with me.' His mouth strayed from her rosy spheres, and captured her lips in a swift an unexpected kiss. _

_He could hear her gasp a little, a surprised sound that quickly turned into a desirous moan. Her closed eyes blinked, indicating her shock. Their lips assaulted one another, and his finally gained the coveted ground, as he slid his tongue between her teeth. He jerked away from her, and reveled in the expectant position of her neck, craning for more. _  
_She felt like jelly in his grasp, her knees weakening at his every touch. And with that one kiss, she was entirely under his command. No longer could she resist the pull of his hand, especially when she craved to know where it would take her. _  
_His voice was like a hypnotic lull, and she felt herself moving towards him as her coaxed her along. _

_"See?" He told her, poking her in the side. "You'll come!"_  
_She smile up at him, and eruptions of giggles escaped her. "Yeah. I usually do."_  
_Enchanted by the sound, Eugene swept her up in his pale arms, and placed her down in the passenger side of his rumbleseat._  
_"Then let's go. I've got a present for you."_  
_He cranked the ignition while he pressed another rapid kiss into her neck, which made her squirm with pleasure._  
_"For me?" She asked, entirely amazed. "It ain't even my birthday!"_  
_Eugene shot her a knowing look, as his hand slipped into hers. "Does a man need that kind of excuse to dote upon the woman he loves?"_  
_Tallulah blushed, and felt the loving sensation of his fingers tracing along hers._  
_"Obviously not." She retorted, tucking her scarlet curls behind her ear. _

_The wind felt nice and cool as it blew through the open windows of the car, and she found her unoccupied hand attempting to cut through the air in wavelike motions. _  
_Eugene sped down the little country road, and Tallulah noticed that they were driving past his house. _  
_"Do your parents know your out this early?" She asked, reminded of Mr. and Mrs. Sledege after they passed the sledge driveway. _  
_Eugene grinned, "Yeah. They actually do."_  
_Tallulah frowned at that piece of information. "So when you take me home. I'm gonna get in trouble, and your off the hook?"_  
_Eugene chuckled, and his dark eyes held some sort of excitement she longed to know about. "I have a feeling, you won't get in trouble…"_  
_"So after going steady for two years, I realize you don't know my father that well."_  
_"Oh, I think he'll make an exception for this incident." _

_Tallulah snorted, and pointed to a car pulling out of another driveway. _  
_"Hey, it's Sid!"_  
_Eugene mashed down on the horn, causing it to blare and disturb the silence of the dawn._  
_Instead of honking his horn, Sid responded by flipping Eugene the bird, to which Eugene blared the horn again. _  
_Sid maneuvered his car to the right, precariously heading straight for Eugene before swerving away. _  
_Tallulah could see the blonde boy's shoulders heaving with laughter, as Eugene shook a clenched fist at his best friend. _  
_Rolling her eyes, Tallulah settled back into her seat. _

_"What the hell is he doing up so early?" Eugene wondered, "God knows he don't have a present to give to his girl._  
_Tallulah mashed down on the space between Eugene's index finger and thumb in reprimand. "Eugene Sledge! Shame on you!"_  
_"What? I'm just saying'"_  
_"Don't make fun of Sidney for not having a girlfriend right now. You know he broke up with Linda a couple weeks ago."_  
_Eugene scoffed, and glanced back at her. "I guess not everyone can be as lucky as us huh Tal?"_  
_She smiled at her, and again she melted. The happy glow in his dark eyes was her one weakness, and he knew it. _  
_Tallulah glanced back out at the road, and noticed that they were approaching Dauphin Island. _  
_"Eugene!" She protested, "We're going to the beach at six in the morning? Gene I'm still in my nightgown."_

_He grinned, and fingered a portion of her silky nightdress. _  
_"And it looks beautiful on it. I love the neckline."_  
_Tallulah smacked his hand, "Eugene! What's gotten into you this morning?"_  
_He lifted her hand to his lips once more, and kissed her left ring finger. "Nothing Tal. I just love you."_  
_She rolled her eyes, secretly savoring the sensation of his lips trailing down her finger. _  
_His lips drew the sweetness out of her, and she found herself leaning over in her seat, kissing him on the cheek. _  
_"I love you too Gene." _  
_She gazed over at his mournfully dark eyes, that served only to quiet his fiery locks. She loved the paleness of his skin, and how it was as smooth as a stone the ocean had polished. She loved his strong chin, that was sometimes covered with gingery stubble, that exhilarated her when it rubbed against her soft skin. "I love you too Gene."_

_Soon, the two had made it to Dauphin Island. _  
_Eugene parked the car as Tallulah hung out the window, admiring how the sunrise had painted the sky. _  
_Eugene hopped out of the rumbleseat, and opened the door for Tallulah who took his hand. _  
_Grinning down at her, he squeezed her hand. _  
_She glanced up towards him and allowed herself to smile, although her gaze was laced with confusion. _

_"Please tell me what we're doing here at this hour." She demanded, as he strode on tugging her along. _  
_"You'll see!" He told her, kissing the top of her head. "Be patient." _  
_"But I'm not patient!" She whined, placing a hand on her hip. "What in the world are we doing out here?" _  
_Eugene walked her towards the beach, their feet plodding against a splintery old boardwalk. "You'll see in a second Tallulah!"_  
_He glanced down at his beautiful girl, and noticed that her smile was brighter than the newly arising sunlight. _  
_She was the most gorgeous thing he'd ever seen, standing there with the wind flitting around the edges of her nightgown, and tossing her blonde locks. _

_Finally, the boardwalk gave way, and their feet touched the sand. Instantly she grinned, curling and uncurling her toes. _  
_"See? Doesn't matter what I brought you out here for!" Eugene said, his voice excited. "You just love the beach."_  
_She inhaled a huge breath full of the heady scent of sun and brine. _  
_She turned to face him, her hands wrapping around his neck. "Yeah, I love the beach. But I love you more."_

_He pressed his lips to hers, and tipped her head back with a push, kissing her deeply. _  
_His hands were pushing hard on her back, as if he were trying to mold them into one form- to entangle their bodies, as he had their tongues. _  
_He bit her, licked her, kissed her, and filled Tallulah's mouth with the wet heat of his own. The salty wind gusted around them, and the skirt of her nightdress blew around his covered legs, exposing her own. As his fingers glided down her sides chills shot through her, and would only abate with more touching. _  
_Finally, he broke away, instantly cringing at the hurt in her eyes as he did so. _  
_"Oh Gene…"_

_He pointed up the beach, and grinned down at her excitedly. "What's that?" _  
_She scanned the beach, still wanted his hands to be on her sides. "I don't see anything."_  
_He pointed again, unable to keep a grin of pure elation off his face. "No, all that messed up sand over there. What is it?"_  
_Tallulah scoffed, and her hands played at the collar of his shirt. "I don't care…"_  
_He grabbed her hand, and like he had been all morning, pulled her down the beach. "I think it's some sort of writing!"_  
_Reluctantly, she followed him, wanting more of his kisses than to know what the message on the beach actually said. _  
_He stopped, and let go of her hand, pushing her in front of him. _  
_"Go on Tal." He urged, waving her away. "Go see what it says."_

_Curious, Tallulah approached the writing in the sand. The first letter started with a 'T,' and she rolled her eyes- thinking he'd written her something silly. But her eyes widened as she continued to read word upon word etched into the beach._  
_ Her hand flew to the base of her throat, where she could feel her pulse hammering. _  
_She re-read the words, making sure that she hadn't misunderstood them. _

_Tallulah Kendall Adams, _  
_Will you marry me? _

_But there they were, the same the first time she'd read them as the second. And then the third and fourth time they remained constant. _  
_She whirled around to face him, her dress whipping in the wind just like her curls. She found he was already on his knee, staring up at her from his stance in the sand. _

_"Will you Tallulah?" He asked her, his face eager and earnest. "Will you marry me?" _  
_From his pocket he produced a dark box, and slowly opened the lid to reveal the ring. _  
_But she didn't glance at it. _  
_The sight of him kneeling on the beach in the sunrise was far more sealing and beautiful that any diamond. _  
_Still clutching her chest, Tallulah could say nothing. _  
_When asked the most important question of her life- the words failed Tallulah. She nodded her head fervently up and down, to the point where she felt neck crack. _  
_She could feel tears dripping of her cheek as Eugene carefully slid the ring onto the finger he had early kissed. _

_Before he could rise from the sand, she fell down into it- her lips aching to touch his instantaneously, as her knees buckled. _  
_The two fell back into the sand of the deserted island, and as she gazed up into dark amber eyes, the words came. _  
_"Yes. She breathed, once his lips and hands reached her. "Yes." _  
x.x.x.x

Tallulah bit her lip, and pushed the wedding dress back into the folds of other clothes that littered her closet.  
She never wanted to see it again.


	13. Repairs

** Thanks for the reviews ya'll! I'm so glad Ber1719 is back from vacation! Haha, I've been missing ya! And I'm glad I'm getting some Eugene fans! I promise, he's still in this :) And yes, due to Silence's comment I realized I have a thing for the letter 'T'! I honestly didn't even think about how all the sisters names start with 'T,'** **and if it was distracting to anyone- I apologize. Anyways, another chapter! :) We'll see what ya'll think!**

Tallulah plodded down the dirt road, her feet grinding against the dirt sending plumes of dust into the air. Her cotton dress swung a little above her knees, and the warm sun felt good on her mostly exposed shoulders. A popsicle was finding its way intermittently into her mouth, and the melted liquid dripped down onto her fingers. She followed the curves of the little road, and found herself winding between huge oaks and lazy Spanish moss. Finally, she saw the mailbox she'd seen a few days ago, 134 Lee Street- Phillips.  
She grinned, and turned onto the road.

When she arrived at the house, she could clearly spot Sid. He lay beneath the undercarriage of his old car, a wrench in his hand.  
She ambled up to him, lazily plopping down on the hood of the car. The sound came as a surprise to Sid, who emerged from under the vehicle, sweaty, oily, and smiling.

"Tallulah!" He exclaimed, as he used an already dirty towel to wipe his soiled face. "What are you doing over here?"  
She shrugged, and continued to swing her legs that hung over the hood. "Nothing. Bored. Came to see you."  
"Well I'm mighty honored. You want something to drink?"  
She shook her head, sending frizzy blonde curls bouncing. "Nah, I'm fine. What about you? You want something?"  
He shook his head, which caused beads of sweat to fly from his forehead. "Nah, I'm fine too. Gotta finish working on this here car."  
Tallulah stared down at it from between her tanned legs. "What's wrong with it?"  
He scratched his head, and Tallulah noticed the dark drops of oil that littered his sandy curls. "Don't rightly know. Thinking it's a leak."

"Oh." Tallulah didn't pretend to know or continue to be interested. Instead she laid back on the car and admired her newly painted toenails, while she sucked on her orange popsicle. A motion Sid found sinfully delightful.  
She leaned over to stare at him, licking at her treat.  
"What? You didn't bring me one?" Sid joked, as he watched her tongue glide across the slick edge of the ice.  
He had thought the joke would help diffuse what he found to be an overbearing sexuality in the gesture.  
But it didn't.  
She kept on with that damn popsicle.

"No." She replied, removing the orange stick from her mouth. "I thought about it, but I figured it would melt."  
She held out hers for him to see. It had become stubby from the workings of her tongue.  
"Look, mine's almost gone."  
He groaned a little, hoping he could disguise his own disappointment as empathy for hers. He didn't want that popsicle to be gone.  
For a moment he considered running inside the house to get her another.

Finally finished, she tossed the stick out into the bushes, while Sid hunkered back down to inspect his car.  
"Want some help?" She offered.  
He shook his head. "No! I don't want you climbing under this thing and getting all dirty."  
She pointed to her dress, which had a healthy coating of dust- evidence of the recent drought. "Too late." She grinned and hopped off the hood. "I wanna watch you fix it."  
He shrugged, and continued to wrench at some part of the car.  
"Suit yourself Tal. Ain't gonna be too entertaining…"

But it was to her.  
Watching his hands move skillfully over the underparts of the car was comforting and rhythmic.  
It sparked her wild imagination to wonder what other things he could fix with those calloused hands.  
Her heart maybe?

He screwed and unscrewed little parts with the screwdrivers, and banged on a few things with the hammer.  
She wasn't sure if it all actually necessary, or him just putting on a show of what he could do with his tools.  
Her gaze eventually drifted up to his face, which was wrinkled in concentration.  
She noted his cornflower blue eyes, which were spotted with specks of dark blue. Much like that stupid rock she had given him so long ago.  
His eyebrows were like little streaks of bright sunlight plastered to his tanned skin. He was still beautiful, even with the oil and grease and sweat that had blackened and roughed his normally smooth face. Her eyes settled around the curve in his jaw, and she longed to cup it in her hands.  
He felt her gaze, and turned to stare at her.

"Whatcha looking at Tal?" He asked, grinning as he picked up a new wrench.  
Tallulah shook her head, feeling a red stain creep into her cheeks. She told herself that is was only from the heat of being under the car.  
"Nothing." She muttered, daring to look up at him while she said it. She hoped the meeting of their eyes would convince him otherwise.  
"Uh-huh."  
"How's your mom and dad?"  
The question seemed random, but Tallulah wanted to know.  
He smiled, as he clamped down on a leaking pipe that had begun spilling grease all over his shirt. "Good. Happy to see me. I don't think I've ever seen them so excited."

A smile spread to Tallulah's usually stationary lips. Even though it had been only a few days since she's seen him- she realized how big her smile was around him. It tugged hard at the corners of her lips, and was almost uncomfortable.  
She wondered if smile muscles could atrophy.

"I know they love that your home safe and sound."  
"I know your parents are happy to have you back.  
"Wasn't really in danger."  
"Debatable."

There was a darkness, a serious tone in Sid's voice that struck her. As if she'd been in some sort of danger as grim and real as he had been.  
"I was doing fine." She lied, remember with embarrassment her breakdown in the kitchen, and the teary episode around the letter Eugene had sent Sid. "I was doing fine."  
"Again, debatable."

She shook her head and glared at him, but within moments his disarming gaze had her smiling again, feeling the unusual pull upwards.  
"What did you do with the vodka?"  
Tallulah blinked at the question, but her eyes remained on his maneuvering hands. "None of your business."  
He chuckled, and continued to pound on some valve.  
A silence descended over the two of them, and no words were exchanged- just the sounds of Sid wrenching the undercarriage and the whooshing of the breeze.

But it was not an awkward quiet or an uncomfortable silence. Simply the absence of unneeded words.  
She didn't have to talk to him. She realized that now. They didn't need a constant exchange of words and phrases to feed their comfort.  
She didn't feel the need to ask him useless questions or comment on the weather. In fact, it seemed that in silence there was more comfort than talking anyways.  
When their eyes met, and green and blue gazes meshed- there were still no words.  
There was no need.  
His eyes dared, while hers danced, saying more than their speech could ever convey.

Finally, she rolled away from him, laughing. "You are messing with me Sidney Phillips!" She warned, shaking another monkey wrench at him.  
"I ain't doing a damn thing!" He protested, stealing the wrench away from her quickly. "You'll hurt yourself with that."  
She snorted and glanced up at the belly of the car, with it's various pipes and tubes that serves as intestines.  
"Are you finished yet?" She asked, suddenly wanting to go somewhere, anywhere with him.  
He grinned at her, and let the wrench fall from his hand, winking. "Depends of how much longer you're willing to lay under here with me..."  
Tallulah raised her eyebrow and fixed him with an astonished look. "You mean-"  
He nodded, shooting her a devilish smile. "Yeah. I've been done for about an hour."  
Tallulah groaned. "Are you kidding me Sidney?"  
He shook his head. "Nope."  
"Why didn't you tell me you was finished dummy?"  
"I like sitting here with you."  
Tallulah was struck my his honest admittance, and another smile crept onto her face. "Yeah? I kinda like sitting here too."

He gave a small snort of laughter, that was soft and rustling like the evening breeze.  
Sid propped up onto an elbow, and licked his thumb. Suddenly, he pressed it to Tallulah forehead, while she complained.  
"Eww Sid. What the heck?"  
He rubbed his thumb gently across her forehead, swiping away a few droplets of leaked oil.  
"Got car on your face." He informed her, as he laid back down.  
She touched the place on her forehead where his finger had been.  
It was still wet from his spit.  
While had she still been in preschool or kindergarten she would have found it immensely gross. Somehow she thought the action sensual.

She turned to him suddenly, her platinum ringlets sliding against the dirt. "Will you go out to the old place with me tomorrow?"  
He nodded, although his expression was confused. "Yeah. Of course. What for?"  
She shrugged. "Haven't seen it yet. Momma says that the garden there is doing well this year and that she's still getting tomatoes and squash from the plot." Her eyes blinked up towards him, and her sinuous neck twisted to meet his gaze further. "I've got to go out an pick 'em. Do you want to come?"  
Sid nodded, "yeah. I can uhh, pick you up that morning."  
She shook her head, and a side of her lips turned upwards. "Nah. I'm gonna take my car."  
He laughed, and pointed upwards. "Yeah. That might be for the best. Dunno if I really trust this thing."

Tallulah noted the shade of the sky, and began squirming out from under Sid's car.  
"I gotta go eat." She told him, as she tugged down on her dress that had ridden up. His gaze shot up to her face, and he gave her an innocent smile.  
Of course he hadn't been looking down there!

She stood and dusted off her skirt, while he came behind her and brushed some dirt off her back. She felt small in his presences, comfortably little. She wondered if she could fit in his arms perfectly. He stared down at the back of her sunkissed neck, containing himself from pressing his lips to the flesh.  
Finally, she turned from him, taking one last inhalation of his spicy, woodsy cologne.  
"Thanks." She whispered, as his hands fell from her sides.  
"For what?"  
She scuffed her foot into the dirt. "For talking."  
He grinned. "Thanks for waiting around while I fixed the car."  
She gave him a little wave, and turned to go. She was halfway down the driveway, when he stuck a hand in the air.

"Tallulah! Lemme drive you home in Dad's car?"  
x.x.x.x

_Sid sat sweating in the green inferno that was the Cape. The lush green trees only served to contain the humidity that served as air. _  
_Once the rain had actually stopped, and once the sun had actually come out- the island was a verdant furnace. Green seemed like it should have been a cool color, that reminded him of breezy, sylvan mountains. But now, he lived in a sea of green that was the sweating jungle on Cape Gloucester. _

_He'd just gotten back from a patrol through a bamboo thicket. The trail though the jungle was so flooded, Sid had to swim to navigate it. _  
_He had held his gun over his head, protecting the weapon that protected his life from the encroaching water that rose to his collarbone. _  
_And it wasn't a pleasant swim. The water was still and unmoving. _  
_Sid's feet had sunken through piles of rotten leveas at the bottom, and he cringed at the stick that could have been snakes. He counted the mosquitoes that lazed in the water, actually thankful for Doc Kirby and his Atabrine. Pathways became malaria infest creeks. Creeks that no one wanted to cross. _

_Before the war, Sid had always imagine jungles as colorful places full of wildlife and exotic plants. He found that the jungles were dim and dark, and carried more exotic diseases that vibrant flowers. Everything blended into a greenish brown. _  
_He knew that now. Screeching calls pierced through thick palm fronds and vines that were impenetrable to even bullets. _  
_Sometimes, he wasn't sure if it was animal or Jap who made the noise. _  
_There was a tap on his shoulder. _

_"Hey Sid?"_

_Sid jerked his head upwards, away from his reflections. _  
_He saw Leckie standing there in the pouring rain. His gaze was so black you couldn't separate pupil from iris. _  
_"I hacked those damn bushes down yesterday." He swore, growling as he pointed to a patch of lush undergrowth. "And there they are again today." _  
_ Sid glanced up at him, "No shit. I swear that bamboo grows a foot a day. Cut some down yesterday, and it's already back too." Water streamed down both sides of Sid's jaw and converged at his chin, dripping off if like trickling spring. _  
_"I feel like we've done more cutting down vines that we have killing Japs on this island."_

_Sid stared down at his hands, which were blistered from using the machete. "Japs are smart. They left this piece of shit island."_  
_"Gee thanks." Leckie muttered. "Real nice of 'em."_  
_Sid stared up into the rain, feeling the constant splashes of water against his face. "You think we're ever getting off of here?" _  
_Leckie seemed thoughtful for a moment, and pulled out his rifle. "Dunno Johnny Reb. But if we stay on here too much longer-" he pointed the gun towards Sid. "Will you be a good guy and just fucking shoot me?" _

_There was a seriousness about the question that Sid felt he could not just laugh off. He found himself nodding, while Leckie lowered the gun- pleased._  
_"I'm starting to think Lebec is the lucky one." Sid mused, thinking about the Canadian private who'd shot himself a few days earlier._  
_Leckie nodded, his long neck bobbing with his head. "I'd shoot myself in this damn uniform." He muttered, pulling hatefully at his tattered dungarees. "I wouldn't take it off and go naked."_  
_Sid gave him a dark grin, as the two stared up into the rain. _

_"Want me to shoot you?" Leckie offered helpfully, his stare coming across as friendly between the pelting droplets. _  
_Sid wanted to laugh at the suggestion. But he didn't- the question was serious enough. _  
_He stared down at the knee deep mud he was standing in and fingered the rock that he'd so faithfully kept in his pocket. _  
_"No thanks." He told his friend who shrugged. "No thanks." _

x.x.x.x.

"You've been sitting here all morning Sid… Doesn't matter how long you stare, you're not going to see her from this far away."

Sid turned from the window and smiled ruefully at his sister.  
How had she known he'd been watching the roof of Tallulah's new house all morning?  
"Katherine! You're sneakier than a Jap…"

His blonde sister sat down beside him, and a caring hand touched his face. "And you look older than our father."  
Her fingers carefully pressed against the skin right under his eyes that was dark and sagging. "You didn't sleep at all last night did you?"  
Sid took a sip of his coffee before answering, hoping the delay might make the answer more casual. "No. I didn't sleep."  
She nodded and stretched her arms out behind her head.  
"I didn't either."  
Sid shook his head. "Gee I'm sorry Kat." He told her, as he glanced at the tiredness of her expression.  
"I heard you all night."

His blue eyes shot open, eyelids flying up. "You heard me?"  
Their blue eyes met, and she nodded. "Heard you screamin' cussin' yellin.' You walked halfway around the house last night looking for someone called Leckie."  
Sid's gaze was horrified his pupils wide with terror. "No, I didn't. I stayed in my bed the whole night. I-"  
"Sidney Phillips, you screamed and ran and hollered all night. I told you Leckie wasn't here…"

Sid threw a quick glance towards her neck and was relieved to see it was free from any purple bruises.  
"Katherine, I'm so sorry."  
She ran a hand through his curls. "Don't be sorry Sid. It ain't your fault."  
"Did Momma and Daddy hear it?"  
Kat shook her head. "I got you upstairs before they knew what was going on. Told 'em it was a loud broadcast on the radio I'd been listening to."  
He buried his face in his hands. "Damn. Thanks Kat."  
Katherine patted him on the leg. "Sid, just please, if I can help you. If momma or daddy, or a professional could help you- Tell me."

Sid lifted the coffee to his lips, and enjoyed the spicy liquid sliding down his throat and drowning the nauseated feeling he felt in the pit of his stomach.  
He couldn't believe he'd done all that in his sleep.  
It sickened him.  
"Have you ever slept? Since you been back?"  
Katherine's question was probing.  
Sid knew that she was ready to call up the local shrink and have him out to the house in a matter of moments.  
"Yeah. About twice."  
"When? How? Maybe you could try to sleep that way again."  
Sid shook his head, and a red stain poured to his cheeks. "Naw. I don't rightly think I could."

Katherine nodded and stood up. But then she turned back to see her brother staring out the window again.  
"Sid, why don't you just go say hello?" She suggested, "You could take her out to lunch. It would get your mind off things."  
It was a good idea. He liked looking at things from a distance though. From behind his window and the walls of his house, she couldn't hurt him. Although she wasn't a Jap, she was a type of speeding bullet sent straight to pierce his heart. And he couldn't have that. Not now. Not when she was getting over Eugene. Not when he was heading back to the Pacific in little over a month.  
"Maybe. Maybe I'll do that."

Katherine sighed and smoothed the front of her dress. "I saw the way she looked at you yesterday."  
Sid's head flew upwards, and he looked away form his coffee. "We're you spying then too?"  
She rolled her eyes, averting the question. "Sid, she likes you. You saw her, just a-starin' away at you while ya'll was under that car."  
"She was just watching."  
"Watching you."  
"Oh, stop it Katherine."

She heaved a heavy sigh before folding her arms across her chest. "Sid, it kills me to say this it really does. But Eugene is, well, he had his shot. You've been watching that girl drool over him since ya'll were only kids."  
"But Kat- listen."  
She stamped her foot. "No you listen! You've always been patient, and kind, and watched that relationship develop. But he- it's over Sid."  
"She loves him."  
Katherine's gaze was stern. "She shouldn't."  
"She can't help it."  
"He left her. When he didn't have to. He coulda stayed- but he didn't. And she ain't from him yet."  
"How do you know?"  
She fixed her brother with a knowing glare. "Honey, everyone in this town has been talking about it. Mailman gosspin' with the rest of us on Lee Street. He ain't wrote her."  
"Doesn't mean he won't."  
"Too damn late now."

Sid shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He wasn't sure why Katherine felt so compelled to urge him on.  
She noticed his squirming, and she gave him a small smile, glancing down at him in apology.  
"I'm sorry. I just- I've watched you wait, and wait, and pine of that girl for years now. And I don't wanna watch you wait anymore. I want you to have what you deserve when you come home from this."  
His blue eyes were darkened when he gazed back up at her. "I may not come ho-"

But he didn't finish the sentence, Katherine slapped him on the arm before he could. "Don't you dare say that Sidney Phillips! And when you do come home, and you will come home - I want you to have what you deserve."  
"And I deserve Tallulah Kendall Adams. I deserve Essie Jo Adams?"  
"You deserve a woman who loves you…"  
Sid scoffed. "And she loves Eugene."  
x.x.x.x

The line to the Camp Pendleton post office was long, but Eugene had waited anyways. Finally, it was his turn. He walked up to the counter, and the mailman handed him his letters. Quickly, he dropped into a chair in the corner, already thumbing through the correspondence.  
"Momma, Aunt Bess, Sid…" He counted, scanning the addresses with a frown. There was still no reply from Tallulah.

He was beginning to wonder if she'd gotten the letter. He was sure he'd addressed it right. He'd memorized her address a long time ago.  
He walked up to the counter again, pushing his way back into the line. There were a few angry protests, but he ignored them.  
"Excuse me?" He asked, as a tired older man turn to face him.  
"Can I help you son?"  
Eugene nodded. "Yeah, I mailed a letter to 167 Cottonway Drive, Mobile Alabama about a month ago. Do you know if it got there?"  
The man motioned for him to wait a moment and looked into a log. He turned back to Eugene, and nodded.

"That address is no longer valid anymore. The mail was sent to the new address of the Adams residence."

Eugene felt his jaw drop a little.  
But the postman wasn't done.

"The letter was then rerouted to Manhattan, Upper East Side, New York. And was delivered about a week ago."

Eugene staggered away from the counter, mumbling his thanks.  
Tallulah? In New York? It worried him. How was she possibly surviving in New York with her family?  
He hoped she hadn't had to take on any compromising odd jobs.  
He hoped her family was alright.

And as he stared at the letters in his hand, he still wondered why she hadn't yet written him back.


	14. Sleep with Me

**Thanks so much to all my reviewers :) It's always like a highlight in my day reading yall's comments! I'm so glad you're enjoying the story so far. And I'm glad we've got some Eugene fans. I promise, we'll see him again!  
Anyways, I hope everyone likes this chapter. Let me know what you think! :)**

Sid knocked on the door to Tallulah's new house. It seemed very odd to him to knock on a door that wouldn't cave in at the pressure of his fist. Her old door was so rickety, there was no point in knocking. He wasn't wearing his uniform today, but instead had thrown on his checkered shirt and his faded blue jeans. The door opened and Teola stood there, her fingers drumming against her side of the door.

"Yeah?" She asked as she smacked on her chewing gum.  
"Umm," He stammered, watching her quickly blow a bubble and then pop it. "Is Tallulah here?"  
Teola continued to chew on the gum, and Sid noticed the motion was gnawing- angry.  
"Maybe." Teola popped another pink bubble, and tossed a glance behind her shoulder. "I dunno."

Suddenly, Tallulah appeared behind Teola, and smacked her sister in the back of her head.  
"Teola! Use some manners! This is Sidney Phillips!" Tallulah glanced from face to face. "You do recognize him don't you?"  
Teola rolled her eyes, "Yeah. He don't look no different. Just tired."  
Both Sid and Tallulah's eyes shot open.  
"Then what is your problem?" Tallulah demanded, a hand flying to the air. "You're being extremely rude!"  
Teola flashed her sister an angry glare. "Eugene was 'extremely rude'"

Sid chuckled, hoping that his laughter would diffuse the situation. "Guilt by association huh?" He joked, while Teola continued to glare.  
Tallulah waved off her sister's previous remark. "No matter. Sid's quite innocent."  
Teola brushed a straight strand of chardonnay out of her face, before turning to leave.  
Tallulah laughed, and shook her head, shaking off her sister's hostility. "Don't mind her."

Teola turned back towards them, and it seemed she was going to deliver some sort of demeaning insult.  
But her face turned saddened as she glanced at the two of them.  
Her eyebrows knit together in pity as she delivered an order far more hurtful than any offense. "You're supposed to go to Eugene's parents later with Mom." Teola informed, watching as her sister's eye widened to the size of saucers. "So be back by mid-afternoon."  
Tallulah swallowed hard and nodded. "Right. Will do."

Teola shut the door, unable to stare at her sister's wounded gaze.  
Sid led her away from the house, and opened the door to his car.  
Tallulah massaged her temple, which was now throbbing. "Excuse Teola. She's just being-"  
Sid hopped into the drivers seat, and his gaze lifted to meet Tallulah's. "Protective?"  
Tallulah shrugged. "More like stupid."  
Sid threw the car into reverse, and placed a hand on Tallulah's seat, as he twisted to see behind him.  
"She's got a right to be."

Tallulah could feel the pressure of his arm on the seat, and wished that it could have been wrapped around her.  
"She's just trying to help you out…" Sid chuckled, and placed his hand back on the steering wheel. "Even if it mean being damn mean!" He shook his head, and laughed again. "I tell ya, facing her at the door was worse than busting into Jap huts!"  
Tallulah relaxed into the seat, smiling. "Then I feel very honored that you'd brave Teola to see me."  
What Sid really wanted to say, was that he'd brave anything to see her, but he didn't.  
"You should feel honored." He told her, "She's right scary."

The rumbleseat car sped down the dirt road, and over the wooden bridge that spanned the creek. She could feel a warm morning breeze, indicative of a hot day. For some reason, the morning sun didn't just seem to be warming her face- it warmed her entirety. Tallulah spied Sid's hand resting gently on the gearshift, and suddenly, she reached for it. She placed her hand atop his, and gently rubbed.  
She could feel the car instantly slow, as his foot left the pedal momentarily, due to his second of shock. But the car regained speed, and his fingers slid into hers.  
Soon, he was massaging loving patterns into the back of her hand, his fingers gliding across the skin.  
When Tallulah dared to look up at him, she saw that he wasn't just smiling- he was beaming.

x.x.x.x

As they pulled up to her old house Tallulah took a deep breath, and inhaled the country air. Her fingers wrapped around the car's door handle, but before she could open it, Sidney held it open for her. She smiled up at him, her cheeks reddening with the newfound warmth she felt from staring at his hand. A hand she had held only moments ago. He seemed to notice the novel abilities of their hands, and grinned down at his palms.

Tallulah stared out at the old homestead. Her eyes flashed over the little house, and she noticed how unchanged the place was. It seemed the only thing that had changed was the height of the uncut weeds. They towered. The paint was still peeling like molting flesh. White chips fell away to reveal old, gray wood. The once shiny tin roof of the house had been encased with rusty covering.

Some part of the roof had fallen away, revealing the skeletal remains of the house's framework. There were holes in the windows, and tattletale pebbles lay under the windowpane, showing that children had been aiming. Broken glass littered the sandy ground, and Tallulah was glad that she'd decided to slip on a pair of sandals. The ashen colored grit slipped under her toes, and she cringed at the dusty powder coating.

As rundown and deserted as the old house was, Tallulah could still picture it in a little less disrepair. Like it had been.  
Where the weeds were still at a manageable height.  
Where the scars from flaking paint weren't quite so obvious.  
Where in roof wasn't as rusted, or the windows a bit less cracked.  
But for all its disrepair- it was still gloriously familiar.  
It was still home.  
She glanced away from the house, and found herself making a joke.

"Looks as bad as it always did." She noted, rolling her eyes.  
Sid shook his head, admiring the old home that looked worn with usage. "I think it's prefect." He muttered, glancing around the vast fields of golden rows that surrounded the homestead.  
Tallulah smiled and her eyes also caught the motion of endless cornstalks swaying in the crisp breeze.  
"It is nice out here."

Sid began ambling towards the garden, which was overgrown with volunteer plants that sprung up from years of faithful planting.  
Tallulah retrieved a few baskets from the back of the car, and set them on the grassy ground beside the tomato plants.  
The plants vine's were sagging with the weight of the large red fruit. Sid reached out to pick a tomato, his hands curling around the smooth flesh of the red orb. He placed it in the basket carefully. The fruit was so big it seemed like it would pop instantly at any pressure.

Tallulah grinned at his gentleness, and snorted. "They aren't bombs." She teased, snagging a tomato and tossing it at him.  
He dodged an explosion of ruby juice that splattered onto the scraggy grass. "Hey now! Don't be start something I'll have to finish!" He pointed to her billowy white dress that fell a few inches from her knees. "That'll stain real easy." Unfazed, she threw another tomato and him, only to have him return fire.

Laughing, she began actually picking the vegetables and placing them in the basket to take home later.  
Sid motioned towards the cornfields that stretched out to the horizon, stopping only to meet the blue sky. "Did your dad want the Indian corn put in for fall?"  
Tallulah nodded, as her gaze fell over the tan stalks that were slowly beginning to crumple in the hot sun. "Yeah, he says that he's ready to put in the crop."  
Sid motioned towards the old barn that was even more dilapidated that the house. "I can get the seeds and get started…" He offered, "And you can keep picking."

She nodded, although his practicality infuriated her.  
She wished he would stay here and pick the tomatoes with her.  
"I can't let you do that though." She told him, as she pushed a full basket aside. "Dad will have some workers come in…"  
"No need, not when I can get started on it."  
Tallulah shook her head again. "No, I couldn't make it up to you."  
He raised an invisibly blonde eyebrow towards the patch raspberries that had wrapped itself around a side of the barn. "A pie?" He asked, as he felt his stomach grumble. "You could make me a pie."  
"Alright." She gushed quickly- excited at the thought that she could make something for him again. "I'll make you a pie."

He grinned, and kissed her quickly on the forehead. "You're an angel."  
She could only give a soft snort as he trotted off into the folds of the sun-streaked cornfields. When he had disappeared between the rows, Tallulah dropped the basket of tomatoes, and instantly headed for the side of the barn.  
x.x.x.x

Her fingers moved in skilful quickness between the sharp thorns that served to guard the raspberries. Although there were a few cuts and nicks on the tips of her fingers, every time she reached a raspberry she felt functional again. Each time her fingers met the fruity flesh she felt purposeful.  
She was doing her job. The job she had so wanted to do for so long- caring for someone.

The swollen little cuts on her slender fingers didn't matter- what mattered was the pie she was going to make for Sidney Phillips.  
And that only mattered because she knew it was going to make him happy.  
She'd filled a small basketful of the reddish berries, snitching a few along the way for her personal enjoyment.  
The tomatoes were probably fermenting on the vine by now- but she didn't care. She was picking something much more important.

x.x.x.x

Sid groaned and placed a hand on his aching back. His checkered shirt was soaked from toiling in the heat of an Alabama summer day. The droplet of sweat were streaking down his brow, so Sid stripped of his shirt, and wiped his face with it. It honestly felt more natural without the confines of his cotton garment. It was tighter fitting than his dungarees, and the starch from the wash irritated his skin.  
Hell, he liked not wearing a shirt better- he'd run around half naked in the Pacific. They all had.

He dropped the shirt onto the ground and continued to sew the Indian corn into the rows of Sweet Kernel. It was a rather monotonous process. B  
end down, dig a very small hole, set seed in the hole, cover up with more dirt, and repeat. His fingers hollowed out tiny holes, and he dropped in a seed. He carefully replaced the dirt, and smiled to himself. He'd finished.

He stared down at the last half-mile of his handiwork, and resolved to himself that he'd come back to see his corn grown. He picked up his shirt, and began walking back towards the house. His arms ached, and there deep stabs shot through his lower back.

But through the golden stalks Sid saw Tallulah at the back of the barn. Her arms reached up and grabbed at the prickly vines, and her legs looked perfectly flexed while she stood on her tiptoes.  
He noticed a basket by her side, filled with raspberries instead of tomatoes.  
Suddenly, the pain in his back abated.

x.x.x.x

"You've got more berries than you need for just one pie!"  
Tallulah whirled around, cursing as she felt a thorn prick her.  
But the tiny stab at her finger was soon ignored, as she watched him sauntering up to the barn. His blonde curls were plastered to his sticky forehead, wet with sweat. He'd taken off his shirt to reveal a torso of tightly muscled pockets contained only by tanned flesh. Tallulah thought the shirt had looked too much like a tablecloth anyway.

She grinned at him, and tried to keep eyes away from his bare chest. "Thought I'd make you two." She whispered, her voice soft with sheepishness. Sid eyed her large baskets full of the berries. "Or three." She admitted, shrugging.  
He chuckled, and plopped down beside her baskets. "Yeah, then I'm gonna have to come back and do some more planting! Make it even."

Tallulah noted the smudges of soft soil on his jeans, and the dirt that had wedged between his fingernails.  
His tanned chest dripped with sweat, proof of his exertion.  
His hands were lightly spotted with patches of the rich, fertile soil, and a few packets of seeds hung out of his jean pocket.  
Tallulah almost winced as she felt a pang deep between her legs.  
As she glanced back up towards Sidney, she had the urge for him to do a different sort of planting.

But she ignored the throbbing, and smiled back up at him. "Yeah, I guess you'll have to finish off the Indian corn."  
He yawned, and lay back in the grass, but only after reaching in the basket for a handful of raspberries.  
"Sidney!" Tallulah scolded, smacking away his questing hands. "Don't!"  
He grinned up at her as he popped the berries into his mouth. "I can't help it!" He whined, as she rolled her eyes and continued to pluck away berries form the vine.  
He stretched out upon the barnyard grass, and found it to be less scruffy than the scorched turn of the cornfields.

He watched her place more berries in the basket, and he scowled up at her. "Tallulah, will you take a rest?"  
She shook her head, and turned to face him. "No. I need-"  
Sid snorted, and grabbed one of her hands, instantly noting the scrapes and cuts. "You've got plenty Tal. I don't need twenty pies. Besides-" He tenderly traced the edges of her fingers, "Your hands are getting all tore up."  
She shrugged off his concern, "They're fine."  
"They're scraped."  
"They're working…"

Their gazes met, and he noticed again just how green her eyes really were. The type of green that made people feel uncomfortable; an unnerving emerald shade.  
"Suit yourself." He told her, although his words were not haughty.  
He yawned again, and Tallulah watched as his eyelids drooped further and further down.  
She tossed a few final berries into the basket, and sat down beside him, spreading her dress against the grass.  
"You sleepy?"  
He nodded, and glanced up at her. "Always."  
Her forehead wrinkled in worry. "You ain't been sleeping?"  
He let out an angry scoff, and his fist flailed at the grass. "I guess you call it sleep."

His sharp blue eyes were edged with rage. "Two nights ago, I- I got up and went all around my house, looking for Robert Leckie."  
Tallulah's gaze was sorrowful, but she continued to listen. "Apparently, I was screamin' and cussing' and yelling.' Woke up my parents."  
"Oh no, Sid."  
His continued, his voice lowering with the same embarrassment that caused his cheeks to flame red. "Kat told 'em that there was some absurd radio broadcast that had somehow gotten turned on, and they went back to bed."  
Tallulah shook her head. "Sidney, I'm so sorry. You don't deserve all this."

He reached out with a questioning hand, and pressed his fingers to Tallulah's neck. The fearful gasp and jump she gave when he touched her was cripplingly painful. He bit his lip, and slowly removed his hand, as if to not startle her any further.  
"I'm so sorry Tal." He murmured, dropped his hand to his side.  
She grabbed his hand, and suddenly placed it on her neck, wrapped each of his fingers around her. "It's alright!"  
She soothed, letting go of his hand. "See, I'm okay!" She motioned down towards his hand, which she had positioned into a grasp around her neck. "It doesn't bother me. The bruises are gone!"

Sid only gave a sad laugh, and let his grip drop. With one finger he outlined a spot of faint purple, which had been covered with some too-dark makeup. "No they ain't. They're there. You just tried to cover them up." She cleared her throat, and nodded. She could feel the small ache of the bruises as his fingers rested lightly on them.  
"Guess I didn't do a very good job..."  
She smiled up at him, trying to lighten the situation. But her grin was too small. Sid let his fingers fall away from her neck, and he placed his hands behind his head- trapping them.

"So no, I don't sleep." He finally admitted. "I do things in my sleep, that keep me from sleeping. And I hate it."  
"You slept in the car that day, and in my bed that one day…" She mused, trying to help. "You slept those days."  
He stared down up at the bright sky. He couldn't look at her.  
He couldn't tell her why he'd slept those days, and not others.  
He didn't understand it himself.  
But the reassuring press of her hand urged him on. Finally, he tore his eyes away from watching the motions of lazily drifting clouds. He rolled over onto his side, and stared at her.

"It was you Tal. You're why I slept those nights."  
Her mouth dropped a little at the statement, and she pressed a surprised hand to her chest. "Me? How did I help you? I- I, didn't do anything Sidney."  
He grabbed her hand and squeezed it. He wondered if her could push understanding into the flesh. "You were there Tallulah. You anchored me somewhere, you anchored me with you- and I didn't drift off anywhere else. You kept me there, right in that moment."  
Sid ran a hand through his sweaty curls. He couldn't believe he was admitting this. He couldn't believe he was actually telling her.  
Tallulah glanced up at him, confusion welling in her gaze. "But how did I do that? I don't know how I did that?"  
Sid gave her a small smile, and shook his head. "By being Tallulah."  
She let out a soft laugh that drifted off into the hot midday. "I'm glad I could help." She stared at his tired face, etched with sleepless lines. "If I could ever help again…"

Sid felt all the walls toppling down around him, as he gazed at her. He clutched her hand, "Lay down with me Tallulah." He pleaded. "Sleep with me."  
Tallulah did as he asked, and lay down beside him. He gave her a grateful smile, before rolling over onto his back once more.  
She returned his smile, feeling the corners of her lips twist upwards.  
She heard his hand snake across the grass, and soon, it intertwined with hers.  
He didn't say thank you. But when she glanced over at his peaceful face, and heard his steady breathing- it was thanks enough.  
She laid her head on his chest, and smiled at the feeling of his skin on hers. An unconscious arm wrapped around her, and soon she too slept.  
x.x.x.x

Tallulah stirred awake a few hours later, and found her eyebrows hunkering in confusion. She lifted her head off of Sidney's chest, and pushed away tangles of blonde curls too see that she'd actually slept there. Blinking hard, she removed his arm from around her waist. She cringed as his eyelids fluttered, and then winced as his blue eyes blinked open.

"Damn…" Tallulah whispered. "I thought you'd keep sleeping."  
Sid chuckled, and stretched his arms out behind his head. "Sorry darling."  
She cleared her throat, and pulled up the straps of her white sundress.  
"Did you sleep good?" She asked, fussing over her dress.  
Sid reached out for one of her straps, and placed it on her shoulder. "Real good. Thank you."  
She smiled up at him, "Anytime."

He glanced at the sun, which had sunken considerably in the Southern sky. "Are you going?" He asked, a certain nervousness riding on his voice. "Are you going to Eugene's?"  
Tallulah swallowed a huge breath of air, and laid back on the grass. "No." She muttered, settling back into the soft ground.  
"No I'm not going."

And with that, Tallulah felt she'd made her choice.  
She was choosing to stay with Sidney, instead of going to talk with representatives of Eugene.  
She wasn't waiting on him anymore.  
Eugene had chosen to leave her, and she'd done as he'd commanded- she'd found another.  
Sid rolled up onto his side, and pushed some straying ringlets ouf of her face with his rough hands. "I'm glad." He murmured into her ear.

Tallulah could feel her breathing quicken, as his face dropped to meet hers. His hands had become flesh shackles, pinning Tallulah's arms to her sides. His neck craned, as he pressed her arms to the ground, and finally their lips crashed together. He slid an arm under her, and lifted her lithe body closer. His hands played gently on her neck, while her fingernails scored through his curls, leaving passionate trails across his scalp. His tongue fought with hers until Tallulah finally let it slip between her wet lips, and explore the slick of her teeth, and the caverns of her mouth.  
He quickly grabbed onto one of her shoulders, and his other hand left her neck, to press into her curved back. Blonde hair mingled with blonder hair, as he pressed down upon her. She felt her neck straining to reach him, straining for more pressure.

She was quickly becoming drunk on his kisses; the taste of his lips was better than her vodka. Her toes curled around the little strands of grass, and she couldn't help smiling, as lips moved down her neck. She was sweating, but she was sure it wasn't just from the heat of the day, but more the heat of their skin rubbing together.  
They kissed with turpentine lips- mouths interlocked and glued together. Breaking away from him was as painful as tearing a tongue from a frozen pole- but she was starving for breath.

Finally both pulled away panting. Tallulah clutched her chest and took a few shaky breaths before daring to stare up at Sid. He took her hand and held it tightly as they both fell back into the grass, heaving for breath.

In a matter of only seconds, their lips met again.

And then again.

And again.

x.x.x.x 


	15. A Month of Forever

**Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed Ber1719, BloodUpontheRisers, and BerthaJorkins! I enjoy hearing from everyone :) This chapter is a somewhat a filler, but hey, there's some time to kill. So I'm sorry if this is more boring that last chapter. Anyways, leave some comments and lemme know what you think! And i promise, we've got big stuff coming up! **

The car pulled up to Tallulah's new house, and Sid cut the engine. Both were reluctant to move from their current positions- hands held. Finally, Sid slid his hand from her grasp, and hopped out of the car. He ambled around to the passengers side, and opened the door. She grinned up at him, admiring the shape of his lips as he grinned back at her- lips she had kissed.  
He offered her a hand to help her out of the car, and she took it. She was perfectly capable of stepping out of the vehicle herself- but if made the perfect excuse to hold his hand.

"You oughtta see Momma and Daddy." Tallulah told him, as she led him up the stairs to the wrap around porch.  
He smiled down at her, and pressed a quick kiss into the top of her platinum curls. "And apologize for making their daughter miss her afternoon at the Sledge's?" He grabbed her wrists, and pulled her close for a quick last embrace, before their touching would have to become far more furtive. "Never."  
She laughed, bubbly little giggles escaping her on short breaths, as his fingers tickled her sides. "I had a much better afternoon with you." She told him, pulling away from his teasing fingers.

His hands became serious, as did his blue gaze as he stared down at her. "I could have stayed there forever." He told, brushing a tiny speck of dirt of her defined cheekbones. "Forever."  
Her lips turned effortlessly upwards at the word that sounded beautiful on his breath.  
A word that Eugene hadn't taken seriously enough. A word that had been promised eternity to her, before eternity was cut short.  
A word that seemed so hopelessly fouled found new purity as it came from Sidney's lips.  
Suddenly, forever seemed beautiful again.  
"Forever." She repeated, savoring the feel of his rough fingertips on her smooth cheeks.

She marched up to the door, and lifted a hand to bang on it- but then she realized. She didn't have to knock. It was her home.  
Sid gave her an understanding look, as she lowered her hand.  
"I did that too." He admitted, while she shouldered in the door. "After you dropped me off, I knocked on my own door."  
Tallulah shook her head, and ran a hand over the freshly painted walls of her new home. "It doesn't feel right yet." She stated, as Sid took a good look around the large foyer.

From around the corner, Teola emerged. Her hands were crossed over her chest, and she was still chewing on that piece of ever-present gum.  
"You're in such trouble." Teola smacked, exhaling slowly as a bubble formed. "Momma's so angry right now."  
Sid held up his hands, and braced himself for the annoying pop of her large, pink bubble. "It's not her fault." Tallulah raised an eyebrow at him, but he continued. "My car broke down on the way home, and I had to stop and bang around on the carburetor." He tossed Teola an easy grin. "You know that danged ol' car of mine. I was just fixing it the other day."  
Teola looked unconvinced, and played with a strand of her pin-straight hair before delivering her retort. "Well I ain't never seen two people so happy after a breakdown on the side of the road."

Sid glanced over and watched as Tallulah bit her lip in an attempt to suppress the smile she'd been wearing for the last two hours.  
Tallulah stamped her foot against the hardwood floor. "Just go on Teola." She whined, watching Teola blow more bubbles of indifference. "Just go on."  
Teola shrugged, and clicked her tongue. "I'm just sayin'. Ain't never seen you so happy to have been stuck on the side of the road."  
Tallulah's eyes flared. "Didn't have to go to Eugene's."  
And then it hit him. As he watched the two sisters bicker, Sid wondered if that's why she'd loved her afternoon. Was it because of him, and the wonderful time they'd spent in the grass? Or was it simply because she hadn't been made to go see Eugene's parents.

Sid lost the opportunity to concentrate on those thoughts, as Darlene came down the stairs.  
Her face was fixed into a polite smile- but Tallulah knew, if Sid hadn't been there- she would have been in for it.  
As she watched her mothers obviously controlled movements, the thought hit her. Hell, she might be in for it still.  
"Sidney Phillips!" Darlene greeted, giving him a warm hug. "I'm so happy to see you home safe."  
Sid nodded, and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you Miss Adams, it's wonderful to be home."  
her gaze fell upon Tallulah, and at once she recognized her mother's displeasure.  
"Tallulah, what happened? I told you to be back by three so we could go visit The Sledges."

Tallulah pointed towards Sid, and relocated the blame. "His car broke down a few miles after we left the old place." Her mother's gaze softened, as she smiled at Sid. "That old car still acting up with you?"  
Sid nodded, and scuffed his shoe against the floor. "It is Miss Adams. I'm very sorry I couldn't have Tallulah home on time."  
His subtle charm was warming Darlene the same way it was warmed her daughter. Tallulah grinned at the sight, and watched as her mother invited Sid in for a drink.  
"Well you must be thirsty from the gardening and fixing the car!" She motioned towards he kitchen, "Sid, would you like something do drink? Lemonade maybe?"  
Sid smiled, and followed her into the kitchen. "Yes, mam I'd love some."  
He shot Tallulah a grin, and she rolled her eyes. As her mother disappeared into the kitchen, Sid wrapped his strong arms around her.

"Aren't I charming?" He whispered, his lips playing lightly on her lips. She giggled at the tickling sensation of his breath, and smiled up at him. "Halfway."  
He snorted, and pulled away from her as her Mother's voice called out. "Sidney, I've got Lemonade or Tea. What do you want?  
"Uhh, Tea please!" Sid bounded into the kitchen, and Tallulah followed slowly behind. From the corner of her eye, she saw Teola step from the shadows of the bookshelves.  
Her younger sister shot her a knowing grin, before bouncing up the stairs.  
Tallulah shook a finger at her, and trotted into the kitchen.  
x.x.x.x

"So Sidney what do you think of the new house?"  
Tallulah's father, Donnie, had just sat down at the table. He asked the question between mouthfuls of cookie he hadn't bothered to offer his guest.  
"Would you like a cookie Sid?" Darlene asked, as she presented Sid with the tin of cookies.  
Sid reached into the container and took one. "Yes 'mam." He glanced over at Tallulah's father. "And yes Sir, I love your new house."  
Donnie patted Tallulah on the back. "I still can't believe my little girl bought me this house."  
Tallulah snorted, and imagined wrapper her legs around John's waist, and pushing her breasts up against some bottle of champagne. "You want to know how I bought you this house?"  
Donnie held up his hands. "No thanks, hun."

Tallulah scoffed. She'd love to reveal to them the real side of what she did. The product placement, the alcohol, the drugs, the sex, the money, the corrupt bargains that dominated the industry. She'd love to tell him how many times she exposed her breasts, spread her legs, bent her back, shown her ass to make the money that she did. But Donnie didn't want to know that. And Tallulah would never tell him. She'd spare him the shame of knowing that his money came from her sexual poses. She let her parents think that she only did certain shoots- shoots that were more modest. But if that were true she wouldn't have been able to afford this house.

Sid cleared his throat before beginning. "This afternoon I started sewing the Indian corn you always plant come July."  
Donnie stared at him, and nodded his thanks. "Well Sid, thanks. I hadn't expected to have anyone do it this year. I mean, it's not really necessary anymore, but since you've started…"  
"Oh, and it will be so nice to have it around the house this fall." Darlene interjected, her hands coming together in excitement. "And we can let Teola sell some of it for spending money."  
Donnie blinked. "Don't give that girl any more excuse to go out."  
Sid chuckled, before Tallulah's father turned to him. "And we'll pay you for what you planted." He told Sid, who nodded. "And we'll pay you if you finish the planting."  
"I'd love to finished planting it in the month I'm here."

Darlene's eyebrows rose, and Tallulah felt like her heart was sinking to the newly tiled floor.  
"You're only going to be here another month?"  
Darlene's questions mirrored Tallulah's exactly.  
Sid nodded, the motion slow and unwilling. "Yes Mam. I leave in a month to deploy back."  
From the cover of being under the tabletop, Tallulah squeezed Sid's hand.  
"Only a month?" She repeated, her voice rising a bit in horror.  
"I wish I could stay longer." He flashed a smile around the table. "Maybe we'll win the war before I have to go back."  
His joke served to lighten the mood of her parents, but not Tallulah.

Finally, Donnie rose from the table and patted his stomach. "I'm going out to the hardware store to get your windowboxes Darlene. And when I get back…" He bent down quickly to kiss her, "Dinner better be ready."  
Darlene smiled, and pushed him away. "And when you get back, you'd better have the right kind of boxes. Or you'll be going hungry."  
Tallulah rolled her eyes at her parents, and Sid chuckled silently at the motion.  
Darlene glanced over at Sid. "Do you want to stay for dinner honey?"  
Sid nodded, and bumped his knee into Tallulah's suggestively. "I'd love to."

Abruptly, Trula burst into the kitchen, with Tara on her hip. "Mom, I've got the groceries for dinner in the hallway."  
Sid jumped up from his chair. "I'll get them Trula." He offered, slipping past Darlene in the crowded kitchen.  
Trula pushed some frazzled red hair out of her face, and glanced around her. "Did I just see Sidney Phillips?" She asked, her gaze darting around. "It's been a crazy day at the factory- but did I just think I saw Sidney Phillips?"  
Sid grinned, and waved at her. "Yeah, hey Trula."  
She placed Tara on the ground, and gave Sid a quick hug. "Oh Sid, it's so wonderful to have you home. All we need now is for Eugene to come back too. Then everything will be back to normal."

Tallulah cast her gaze down to the table, and said nothing.  
She didn't think things would ever go back to normal.  
Normal had been permanently revoked.  
Sid carried in the groceries, and Trula glanced at Tallulah pleadingly. "Will you take her outside while I help mom with dinner?"  
Tallulah scowled, as she swallowed a sip of Lemonade as she stared down at what she knew to be a boisterous four year old. "Depends on what your making for dinner."  
Trula placed a hand on her hip, "We're having country fried steak if you get her out of here."  
Tara pouted up at her mother, and suddenly Sid swept Tara up in his arms. He pointed a finger at Tallulah, as he placed Tara on his shoulders. "I don't care what you do Tal." He joked, while he started from the front porch. "I'm having country fried steak for dinner!"  
Tara giggled from her perch on Sid's shoulders. "Me too!"  
Tallulah snorted and got up from the table, following Sid and Tara outside.

x.x.x.x

"Aww you found me!" Sid complained, as Tara drug him out from behind a bush. "Did you peek?"  
Giggling, Tara shook her head. "Naw. I don't cheat!"  
Sid tousled her fiery curls. "Good. It's no fun to play with someone who cheats."  
From her hiding spot inside the gardening shed, Tallulah watched the sight with an amused smile on her face. Sid and Tara were hunting together from other bushes. Tara held a stick in her chubby little fist that she would occasional whap the bush with. Sid would always laugh at the sight. Tallulah drug her hands through the earthy dirt inside a flowerpot and waited. Sid and Tara scoured through a large patch of flowers, and finally began looking behind trees in the yard.  
"Alright." Sid told Tara. "You go look behind the house, and I'll go look in the gardening shed."  
Tara nodded, and began streaking across the yard, while Sid lazily plodded towards the potting shed.

Tallulah rolled her eyes, when Sid opened the door.  
"Found you!" He announced, prodding her in her side. "Nice hiding place. But technically-" He reached out to flick her nose. "We said that inside is out of bounds. And this is inside."  
Tallulah folded her arms, and cocked an eyebrow. "How did you know I was hiding here?"  
Sid grinned sheepishly. "You've been hiding here for the last three games."  
Tallulah's foot began tapping against the ground. "Yeah, and one of those times you were it. So obviously-"  
He grinned down at her, and pulled her into his arms. His lips reached her cheek, and she smiled at the sensation of their movement against her skin. "I cheated."

She shook her head, trying to feign disapproval as she pushed him away. "Oh no." She scolded, stepping out of his embrace, and shaking a critical finger at him. "It's no fun to play with someone who cheats!"  
She was egging him on, with all her teasing, and pulling away, and mimicking. And he knew it. But he fell for it anyways. He was unable to play her little game when all he wanted was to have her back in his arms in the privacy of the shed. He lunged towards her, and immediately he held her captive in his arms once more. His lips pressed small kisses into the back of her neck, "Who said I was playing?"  
She smiled at his touch, and his words.

But she wiped the smile from her face, when she realized how perfect the opportunity was to ask a question.  
She whirled around to face him, blonde curls swinging down into her face.  
"Are you?" She challenged, the dim light glinting off the emeralds that served as her eyes. "Are you playing with me?"  
Sid's gaze grew concerned, his flaxen eyebrows furrowing into his tawny forehead. "Tallulah, you think I'm just playing with you?" His voice was quiet, emphasizing it's already ashy tone.  
Tallulah squirmed, awkwardly brushing platinum ringlets into her face. The preemptive hurt in his eyes; it hurt her too.  
Staring into the dark specks in his iris, her guilt shot through her like a million little blue needles.  
"I'm just wondering Sidney." She breathed, her voice rushing over the words.

He took her hands, and stared down at the beautiful flush in her cheeks. He ran a finger down her high cheekbones that were dressed so beautifully in shadow. "I ain't playing with you Tallulah… I care about you."  
His words brought out her smile, and his fingers ran over the plump curve.  
"You care about me?"  
"I always have."

She continued to smile, and embarrassed by her constant beam, she pressed her lips to his. In the gloominess of the potting shed, their lips met. She could feel the safety of the dark walls around them, encasing them in coveted privacy. As his tongue flit between her lips, she could feel her knees buckling with pleasure. This only caused Sid's arms to wrap around her waist- supporting her. As his mouth delved forwards, she began backing up, her long legs stumbling backwards. He kept coming towards her and pushing closer to her in every way possible.

He pressed his tongue to hers, as he pressed her body to the shelf. She could feel the edge of the shelf digging into her backside, but she simply arched in an attempt to curve around it. Her hands were behind her, firmly planted into two pots full of fertile soil. He pushedagainst her, and their lips continued to mesh together. She buried her hands deep into the potting dirt and clenched to it, attempting to anchor herself against the waves of pleasure that were rocking her body.

Suddenly, the doorknob to the shed jiggled, and Sid tore himself away, cursing.  
He flung open the door, and plastered a grin to his face. "Tara! I found her!"  
Tara laughed, and pointed accusingly towards Tallulah. "We agreed that there wasn't any going inside!"  
She pointed towards the floor, "And this is inside!"  
Tallulah groaned, while Sid chuckled. "That's exactly what I told her."  
Tara shook her head, and grinned. "Now ya'll go hide. I'm counting to 50!"  
She ran off towards the porch, where they had all been counting.

Once she was out of view, Sid turned to Tallulah. His arms wrapped around her waist, and she snuggled down into his embrace.  
"We've got 'till fifty."  
The words whisked off the back of her neck, sending shivers down her spine.  
She twisted her neck up, so that she could press a kiss to his defined jaw.  
Her lips met his skin, and the words came out in a hot whisper.

"What you mean Sidney Phillips, is that we've got a month…"

x.x.x.x

Eugene stared down at the picture of Essie Jo Adams that he'd stolen from Harper's wall. It lay in his lap, along with the phone number the apartment complex on Upper East side had referred him to. He'd tried not to believe it. He tried to find other explanations. But as he gazed down into the verdant eyes of the model in Harper's poster, puzzle pieces clicked into place. Those were her eyes- eyes that he'd once starred into, and eyes that half the GI population stared into. Those were her hips- hips he'd held, and hips the rest of the marine Core wanted to hold. He shook his head as he ran a finger over the glossy page. She had blonde hair now, hair blonder than his old friend Sidney Phillips. How had he not noticed her?

He shrugged and tried to shake off the thought, as logic took over. His letters had been re-directed to a new address in Mobile, which were then rerouted to an apartment in Upper East Side, NY. When he'd called to talk to the resident of 515 East Creek Apartments, the receptionist had told him Essie Jo Adams was not in. The woman had given him the number to call, and it sat in his lap.  
He'd asked if he could borrow the barrack phone, and the CO had agreed.

Grimacing, Eugene dialed the numbers into the phone, and soon heard the cold dial tone.  
Suddenly, the line clicked and on the other end a voice answered.  
"Hello, you've reached the extension for Essie Jo Adams. May I help you?"  
Eugene swallowed hard, and leaned into the receiver. "Yes, um, this is Eugene Sledge. I'm looking for Tallulah Kendal Adams."  
There was a large, spacey silence on the other end.

Finally, the voice spoke again. "Eugene Sledge." It mused, in what seemed to be a hostile tone. "I never thought you'd call."  
Eugene's brow bent, and he went on, confused. "You've been expecting me?"  
A harsh chuckle met his ears, and he winced.

"Yes. My name is Frank, and I'm Essie Jo's manager…"


	16. One of Those Nights

**Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed! Ber1719, BloodUpontheRisers, and BerthaJorkins! I enjoy hearing from ya'll :) I'm glad everyone enjoyed the fillers, but hey, passing the time is important. We'll see what you think of this chapter! And by the way, I'm so glad we've got both Sid and Eugene fans :) Anywho, hope everyone enjoys!**

"If you wake me up when you come in through the window once more!" Tallulah threatened, as Teola swiped on some mascara. "I'll nail it shut."  
Teola snorted, and continued to primp in the mirror. "You'd better not."  
"You'd better not be loud."

Teola capped her eyeliner and turned to her sister. "How do I look?"  
Tallulah smiled at her, admiring the perfect way the dark lines met at the corners of her eye.  
"You look stunning." She admitted, plopping down onto her bed. "You should go back to New York and take my spot."  
The smile that spread across Teola's face was beautiful, and Tallulah envisioned it gracing large posters.  
"You think I could? You think I'd make it?"

Tallulah nodded, "You're ten times prettier than I am. They'd love to have you on."  
Teola fussed about the neckline of her dress in the mirror. "But you, you have that beautiful blonde hair!"  
Tallulah snorted, and pulled at a twisted strand. "You could too. Comes right out of a bottle."  
Teola plopped down beside her sister, and grabbed a pillow. "I wish I could!" She exclaimed, her voice rising. "I'd love to model."  
Tallulah said nothing, but waited for her sister to go on. She expected there to be more.  
"Isn't it glamorous Tal? The camera, the cars, the champagne? the dresses…" Teola cast a wistful gaze towards the wall where he beloved poster of John Basilone hung. "The men?"

Tallulah didn't even have to think about her answer.  
It was quick and instantaneously delivered.

"No."

Teola's eyebrows shot upwards. "What do you mean no? You know it's wonderful."  
Tallulah shook her head, a hardness forming in her eyes. "It's not Teola. What you see on those poster is only half of what you get."  
She picked at a wrinkle in her sister's bedspread. "Shit, it's probably less than that."  
Teola's gaze begged for understanding, and Tallulah sighed and felt and old pang arise in her throat.  
For the first time since she'd seen Sidney Phillips- she was craving her vodka.

"The cars, yes they're fast and they're pretty. But a few nights ago, Lillie Daniels was killed in her convertible. I'd posed with her a few times. She was nice."  
Teola looked baffled by the statement. "I'm sorry."  
Tallulah shrugged, "And you wanna know why she wrecked the car? All the champagne."  
Tallulah took another look at her sisters appaled expression and continued. "The dresses- well, they're pretty. But it ain't like you get to keep 'em. And lots of times- you ain't even in modeling in dresses. You're modeling in your panties."  
Teola's mouth dropped into a perfect 'o'. "I thought you didn't do that."

Tallulah snorted, and the sound was laced with bitter hilarity. "How do you think I bought this house? On dresses alone? Honey, you can't buy a damn dress by shooting covered."  
Teola's eyes were glittering, relishing in the scandal. "You mean you've got lingerie ads?"  
Tallulah pretended to count on her fingers, before rattling off the real number. "Twenty two of 'em."  
Tallulah's eyes narrowed, as she continued to rectify her sister's list of novelties. "And the camera? You learn to hate cameras. I don't think there's an inanimate object I hate more than a camera. I don't even wanna take pictures of pretty things I see." She tossed her sister a sickened glare. "I hate cameras."

"And the men?" Teola prompted, her eyes rolling in jest. "Do you hate them too?"  
Tallulah's head bobbed from side to side. "Depends. Some yes, others no." She watched her sisters gaze drift to the picture of John.  
Tallulah studied his dark features, and smiled back at her sister. "But John, Sergeant Basilone was always a gentleman."  
Teola giggled. "I knew he would be."  
Tallulah stared back up at his statuesque figure that seemed even darker around her light features. "Which reminds me. I need to write him. Promised I would."  
Teola moaned as she pushed herself off the bed. "Well, get him to send me an autograph will you?"  
Tallulah glanced out at the approaching headlights in the driveway. "Yeah I'll see what I can do."

Teola ducked down, and crawled through the open window.  
She crouched down on the roof, and fixed her sister with a suggestive look. "You know, you could sneak over to Sid's."  
Tallulah's gaze jerked from studying patterns in the bedspread, and she glared at Teola who squatted on the shingles.  
"Why do you say that?"  
"Cause you like him."  
"I don't."  
"I saw you kiss him."  
Tallulah snapped a finger and cursed silently while Teola giggled.  
"I'm just saying Tal, I wouldn't tell."  
"Oh sure."

Teola walked out to a banister, and wrapped her arms around it, preparing to slide to the ground.  
"I'll be quiet coming in tonight."  
Tallulah gazed out into the inviting night, and her stare settled upon Teola once more.  
"Don't bother."  
From the glare of the bedroom light, Teola couldn't see her sister's face, but she knew her smile was wayward and mischievous as her voice.

x.x.x.x

Eugene flung down the phone, cussing as it hit the stand.  
He couldn't believe that man.  
Frank.  
What sort of name was Frank anyway?  
Eugene carried the phone back to the CO's office, and stormed back into his barracks, remembering the conversation.

"Eugene, yes. I'm Essie's manager."  
"Her name is Tallulah."  
"Not anymore. We only call her Essie Jo."  
Eugene snorted as Frank continued. "I suppose you've finally realized where your ex-fiancee is working?"  
Eugene's voice was tinged with anger. "Yes. I just found out. She hadn't mentioned it in any of her letters."  
"I suppose she wouldn't have- I doubt she'd want you to know how she'd been making her money."

There was a pause, and Eugene heard the static on the line.

"But I have to ask you Mr. Sledge, she's been on some of the biggest posters since Mae West and Bettie Davis, and Betty Grable. Her photos were distributed in Yank magazine. You yourself had some of her pictures. I just have to ask- how is it that you didn't recognize your own fiancée?"

Eugene hung his head, and gnawed on his lip. He'd asked himself the same question numerous times.  
"I don't know." He admitted. "But I'm not calling to discuss that. I'm calling to speak with her."  
Frank chuckled, and Eugene could almost picture the man shrugging. "She's not here right now, and I've honestly no idea where she's gone."  
Eugene could feel his heart drop into his stomach. Where was Tallulah?  
Frank continued. "I assume she's gone back home, some soldier picked her up."  
"Some soldier? You let her leave with some soldier?"  
"Eugene, I can hardly control Essie Jo as it is. Let alone when some marine steps in!"  
"Do you know his name?"  
"I think it was something Phil? Phillips maybe? She ran off with him the other night. Didn't bother telling me."

Eugene breathed a sigh of relief.  
She'd gone home with Sid.  
She was safe.  
Sid would take care of her.

"Thank you, I suppose I'll try to contact elsewhere."  
Frank said nothing for a moment, and then began again.

"As you wish Mr. Sledge. But really, I wonder if she'd speak with you. She never returns your letters."

x.x.x.x

Tallulah slipped through the window the same way her sister had. She heard her back pop when she ducked under the windowsill, but the pain was instantly alleviated when she felt the cool night air. Her toes wriggled against the rough shingles that felt like sandpaper. She quickly trotted to the banister had Teola had so expertly wrapped her legs upon and slid down. As Tallulah did the same she wondered if her sister would have made a better potential stripper than model.

Laughing to herself, Tallulah slid down the pole, and hopped off when her toes felt the damp ground.  
She glanced back to the house, and shook her head. She couldn't believe she was doing this. She couldn't believe the idea had been so tempting.  
But as she remembered his earthen sent, and the rhythmic movements of his sly lips, Tallulah found herself being lulled down the darkened road that would lead to him.

The walk to the Phillips home went quickly. She kept up a brisk pace, not stopping to wonder what creature was hiding in the darkened woods, or under the plank bridge that led over the briny creek. Finally, she arrived at the Phillip's home. She snuck up the driveway, careful to avoid the path that led by the dog's kennel.

Soon, she stood at the base of the porch as she contemplated her next move.  
She didn't think tossing rocks and calling out in a screaming whisper was a means effective of concealing her visit. She also didn't think letting herself into the side door of the house was a smart idea either. In fact, as Tallulah stood on the porch she began to think that the entire idea of coming to Sid's house in the pre-dawn hours was a stupid concept. She scoffed, and began to turn away from the door, when suddenly it opened.

x.x.x.x  
Tallulah stared into Katherine Phillip's surprised gaze, as the screen door almost hit her in the face.  
"Tallulah?" Katherine's gaze was shocked, as she stared out at Tallulah, who felt her cheeks flaming.  
Tallulah nodded and stared down at the ground, pushing strands of hair into her face to obscure her flush. "Yeah, hi Katherine."  
Katherine pressed a hand to her forehead. "Umm, Tallulah, I'd love to ask you what you're doing here at this hour. But, I'm gonna be honest."  
Tallulah held up her hands. "Katherine, I'm sorry- I'll just be on my way-"

Katherine stepped in front of her, barring her way. "No Tallulah, I- You won't believe this…" She stopped speaking to eye the ground, as if she were testing her own sanity. Finally she glanced back up, and pointed to the house. "I was actually coming to get you."  
Tallulah blinked hard, and pressed a hand to her chest. "You were coming to get me."  
Katherine plopped onto the stairs, her body hunching over in defeated curl. "I- I had to come get you. I can't help him, he's-"  
Tallulah took a seat next to Katherine and gave her a pat on the shoulder. "What's going on?"  
Katherine shook her head, flinging her Phillip's sandy curls everywhere. "I don't know Tal." She admitted. "He's having one of those nights."

Tallulah nodded in understanding, and she watched as Katherine's knee began to bounce. "He's calling out to people that ain't there, he's banging on the wall, and he's trying to kill the sheets, because according to him they're 'dirty yellow bastards.'"  
Katherine's shoulders began to shake a little as she went on, and again Tallulah placed her hand on the older girl's shoulder. "He'll get right up, and he'll talk to you. But he don't know who you are. And his eyes will be open- but he ain't really awake."  
Tallulah rubbed her shoulder comfortingly, "I know. I've seen him like that once."

She could still imagine his strong hands around her neck, strangling her.  
She could still see the dangerous blankness in his gaze as he stared at her, unable to recognize.  
Tallulah touched her neck, her fingers spreading out onto the bruised flesh.  
She was about to tell Katherine of her experiences with Sid's trauma, when Katherine grabbed her hand.

"I'm scared to go in there!" Katherine sobbed, her head dropping to Tallulah shoulder. "I'm scared to go in there when he's like this."  
Tallulah swallowed down her story, and gnawed on her lips as she searched for the right words.  
"I don't think he'd hurt you Kat."  
Katherine glanced up at her, her blue eyes swollen with tears. "Has he ever hurt you before? When ya'll were in New York?"

Staring into her eyes, was just like staring into his.  
She could see to the bottom, as if she were gazing into a glassy pool.  
And he'd never truly hurt her. Sure, physically he had- but the pain was fleeting. He'd never tried to hurt her. He'd never wounded her.  
He'd only been there to pick up her scattered pieces, and kiss her back into believing.

"No." Tallulah told her, "He's never hurt me."  
Katherine sniffed, and wiped a few tears off her cheeks. "It hurts me to see him like this." She squeezed Tallulah's hand, "And so I was coming to get you to help him."  
Wrinkles of confusion etched themselves into Tallulah's forehead. "How did you know? Why do you think I can help him?"  
"Because he talks about you in his sleep. He asks you to help him in his sleep."  
Tallulah's eyes widened. "He asks for my help?"  
Katherine nodded, "He asks for you. I think you're all he can remember besides the fighting."  
Tallulah patted her hand. "Well, I think you're an incredible sister for doing this for him."

Katherine let out a small laugh. "I didn't have to do anything. You came to me." She paused to shoot Tallulah a perplexed smile. "Which by the way, I'm still wondering what brought you out here at one in the morning?"  
Tallulah gave her a sheepish grin that begged for absolution. "Another time?" She pleaded, breaking out into a small laugh as Katherine rolled her eyes. "Yeah, sure. But I'm taking you up on it!"  
Tallulah nodded, and quietly stepped into the house, leaving Katherine to ponder in the darkness.

x.x.x.x

She could hear the noise before she was even halfway up the stairs. Although the quiet stillness of the house amplified the sounds, Sid's screams were still earsplitting. She grit her teeth against the bloodcurdling sound of his screaming, and kept walking. When she reached his door, she could hear him pounding on his walls. She heard him grunting with exertion, as he punched against the walls, attempting to bludgeon an invisible enemy.

Swallowing, Tallulah shouldered in the door, calling his name. "Sid! It's me! It's Tallulah."  
There was a pause in his striking against the wall, and he looked straight at her. But his assault on the wall continued. He was cursing as his fists battered the walls, saying words she'd never once heard him say. She stepped gingerly around random objects that he'd obviously thrown around the room, and sat down on his bed.

She felt an apprehensive tingling in her neck, and for a split second she imagined his flailing fists striking her.  
But Tallulah quelled the thoughts, as she reached out to touch his back. He noticed the sensation, and turned to her. She took Sid's bloodied hands in hers, and he fought her for a moment, before settling under her touch.

"Sidney." Tallulah called, her voice not rising above a whisper. "Please wake up. It's me." Her fingertips grazed over his jaw gently, and the motion served to awaken him from his traumatized state.  
He pulled his hands away and rubbed his eyes, as if he were just waking up. "Tallulah?" He asked, his voice shaky with confusion. "What are you doing here, it's late."  
She smiled at him, but there was no joy in the twist of her pink lips. "It's actually early." She joked, noting the time.  
He snorted, and ran a hand over his face. "Still, what the hell are you doing here?"

Tallulah picked up his hands, and held them out for him to see.  
She could feel his blood trickling down her arms, and she cringed at the sight of his broken nails. "You were-"  
Sid pulled his hands away, not wanting her to finish the sentence. "I-I. I guess I know that now."  
He stared down at his fingernails, which had been bent and broken in every direction, and the bloody bruises that littered his fingers. He glanced up at the wall, which had circular indentations smeared with red. Blood dripped off his walls and down onto the floor, and he shook his head at the sight.  
"Tallulah I'm sor-" She cut him off with a quick kiss to his cheek.  
"Don't apologize to me Sidney. You didn't do anything wrong."

His icy eyes were wide in the darkness, as he stared at his bleeding walls.  
"I had no idea I was doing this." He admitted, his voice low with shame. "No idea."  
Tallulah tossed down a towel she had just used to clean the wall, and stroked his back. "I know. I know Sid."  
He bit his lip, and Tallulah watched as his hands shook from rage and exertion. She stood up, and instantly there was a hand on her arm, pulling her back.  
"Please don't leave me." Sid murmured, his eyes searching hers with a desperate fervor.  
She squeezed his hand, "I'm not. I'll be right back."

As quietly as she could, Tallulah crept down the hallway to the bathroom, and grabbed a few towels and a bottle of peroxide.  
She let herself back into Sid's room, and sat down on the bed again.

"Gimme your hands." She commanded, wetting a towel with the bubbling peroxide.  
He eyed the bottle, and his suspicious gaze darted to hers. "Is it gonna sting?"  
She rolled her eyes, and jerked his hand into her lap. "Oh don't be a baby."  
He grinned, and he scowl lightened into a smile, as she dabbed his hand with the towel.  
Although the peroxide stung a bit on his open cuts, the soft, gentle touches of her hand were soothing.

"How did you know?"  
Tallulah continued to clean his battered hands, "I snuck over here to see you, because I couldn't help myself. And I found Katherine, who was coming to get me."  
Sid threw his head back, groaning. "Oh, lord, I woke Kat up again?"  
Tallulah watched as the peroxide fizzed and hissed in open tears in his skin. "Yeah. You woke her up."  
Sid hung his head, and when he looked up at her, his gaze was still heavy. "I wish I could stop this."  
She reached for his other hand, and began wiping away the dried blood. "I know you do. I wish you could stop too. I hate to see you like this Sid."  
His gaze hardened as he sensed her pity. "I'm fine." He assured her. "Just not during the night."

She glowered up at him, as her careful fingers plucked splinters and wood fragments out of his hands.  
He cringed as she pulled one out, and she patted his leg. "I'm done now."  
He grinned, and then frowned as she pulled out the towel that was seeping with peroxide. "Aww what now?" He whined, shooting her a grin.  
She placed a hand on the side of his face, and lifted the towel to his forehead, where he'd acquired a nasty cut.

"Don't know how you did this." Tallulah mused, dabbing the towel in more peroxide before smearing it onto his cut.  
He shot her an impatient glance, and attempted to bat away the towel. "I'm fine now. If you wanted to play nurse, you should have joined up with Mary Lennon!"  
Tallulah's eyes narrowed, and she clenched the towel to his forehead, until she had him begging for mercy.  
"Mary Lennon is going to do a good job." Tallulah defended, placing a hand on her hip.  
Sid snorted, and attempted to push the towel away and kiss her. "You'd do a better job."  
She snorted. "About a week ago you told me that if you were injured, and I came along- you'd have no hope to live."  
He gave her a sheepish grin, and attempted to toy with the edges of her nightdress. "I think I was mistaken."

Finally, he grabbed her arm, and snatched the towel from her grasp. He tossed it on the floor, and his arms quickly wrapped around her back.  
He fell back onto his pillows, and pulled her with him as he strained to kiss her.  
Although her chest was pressed to his, she delighted in keeping her lips a teasing distance from his.  
The need for her was so evident in the reaching muscles of his neck.

"Oh no!" She whispered, placing a finger to his lips. "I'm all finished here. I've got to be going to join up with Mary Lennon. We've got rounds in a few…"  
He winced at her joke, and attempted to kiss her once more, but she dodged, laying her head on his chest.  
"Very funny." He muttered, as he settled for placing a kiss on top of her head. "Tell Mary Lennon that when she comes by, I'm going to need a massage, and probably a sponge bath. My hands are really hurting, so I might have to be spoon-fed my breakfast."

Tallulah gave him a little pinch, to which he whined. "Although your sexual overtures are quite enticing- I don't think either Mary or I would be able to help you in those requests. Besides, didn't I hear you say something once about how nurses were off limits?"  
The placement of her finger atop her innocent pout was too much.

He growled, as he shoved her to his lips, and their mouths molded together.  
His hands played lightly on her back, fingers pressing certain places as if they were keys to a piano.  
And with his tongue he wrote he a sonata of pleasure, an intricate dance that weaved in and out of her mouth.  
Her hands found their way into his curls, and she locked her fists around clumps of his sandy hair. His hands crept down her backbone, and finally settled in the dip of her back.

She moaned at the placement of his hands, prompting him to lower his grasp.  
But he didn't.  
His hands stayed in the appropriate area, taunting her with his gentility.  
Her chest began heaving against his, and soon Sid became all too aware of the supple flesh that was being pushed up against him.  
His hands were on her sides, relishing in the contours of her curves, while she began planting heavy kisses into his jaw.

Finally, his hands came to her face, lifting it gently to his.

"Good thing you're not a nurse huh?"

x.x.x.x

Eugene picked up his Hemingway, and flipped through a few pages of Farewell to Arms. But he found no solace or distraction in Catherine's flirtatious advances towards Fredric Henry. And he found no comfort in the two page description of Catherine's flowing, blonde hair. It reminded him of Tallulah's hair in the poster.

And in that poster, her hair was wrong.

Her beautiful red locks had been fouled by the same platinum shade he'd seen too many models wear.

At least Sid had brought her home. He could always trust Sid to help him out.

At least she was safe.

x.x.x.x

Tallulah fell asleep that night atop Sid's chest, with his hands wrapped protectively around her. The sounds of the crickets and the creek met her ears, but what lulled her to sleep was the rhythmic, constant beating of Sid's heart.

There was no murmur that interrupted the steady cadence—and Tallulah liked it.


	17. Hello

** Thanks so for the reviews and mentions!**** Ber1719, BloodUpontheRisers, and BerthaJorkins- ya'llare like my amazing trio.**** I appreciate how much time ya'll have put into review this. :) And I'm so happy ya'll are enjoying this story. I'm hoping soon we'll get some more readers, and we'll see what they have to say about this story! Anyways, another chapter. I'm glad to have this one out of the way!  
Next chapter is gonna be a blast :)  
**

Tallulah jerked awake heaving a large breath as she did so. She glanced around in confusion, and finally turned over to stare into Sid's sleeping face. Carefully, she maneuvered out of his arms, and out of the bed. She cringed at the squeak of the old mattress. She placed a pillow between his arms so that maybe he wouldn't notice the disappearance of her body and sleep on.

She glanced at the clock and knew that it would be safe enough to maneuver downstairs. Sid's father would be at work, as would Katherine. And his mother would be at her local garden club, as she was every Tuesday. Still, Tallulah crept down the stairs, until she could see the driveway and noticed that there were no cars. She jumped down the last few stairs excitedly, as she danced her way into the kitchen. She grabbed a frying pan, and an egg and some bacon from the fridge. She tossed them into the pan, and threw the pan onto the burner. She snagged some orange juice, and then closed the fridge door with her foot, while flipping over the egg. Soon, the sizzling was loud and the bacon hissed as she turned it over.

And the sounds of the working kitchen, the sizzling, hissing, splattering made Tallulah smile.  
The smell of the bacon and egg in the pan, made her feel useful, and stifled her domestic creativity.  
She removed the food from the stovetop, and placed it on a plate.

Tallulah jogged up the stairs, and quietly opened the door to Sid's room.  
She almost hit her head on some model airplanes that dangled from his ceiling. Her lips curved upwards at the swinging planes, attached to the ceiling by fishing twine. Although he'd been fighting all over the Pacific, he'd left remnants of his recent childhood here at home.

Suddenly, he rolled over and gaped at the plate of food she held.  
He grabbed her hand, and tugged her over towards him. She collapsed onto the bed, barely able to hand on to the plate.  
She blinked at him, and squirmed away from his attempted kisses. "How long have you been awake?"  
He grinned, and finally managed to swipe his lips across her cheek. "Long enough to smell the delicious breakfast you made me!"

He gave her a wink, one of his eyelids sliding down to playfully cover a blue eye. "I knew that wouldn't let your patent starve."  
"I ain't spoon feeding this to you Sidney."  
He nodded, breaking into a fit of chuckles. "But my hands!"  
"I cleaned your hands last night. I'm sure they hurt, but I've every confidence you can feed yourself."  
"I can't." He shut his eyes, and rolled around a moment, reveling in his own dramatic performance. "Oh the pain!"  
Tallulah rolled her eyes, and rose from the bed. "Fine then, I'll get you some aspirin."

His arms wrapped around her thighs, and pulled her back down onto the bed. A fizz of giggles escaped her, as he tickled her legs.  
"You're so adorable." He paused to finger the lacy neckline of her nightdress which had been pulled down. "But not as adorable as this."  
She rolled her eyes, but leaned in for a kiss anyways. "You're not half as charming as you think you are. You know that right?" She scolded, as he snuggled back down into the bed and wrapped an arm around her.  
"Oh, believe me. I'm twice as charming as you think I am. See, you're hard to get, but had I tied that move on any other girl- they'd had gone for it."  
Tallulah snorted, "Well, charming or not, you've got me." She couldn't resist smiling up at her, if only to see his beautiful smile in return. "And whatever shall you do with me?

Sid pressed a kiss into her forehead, and gave a small sigh.  
The sound was not heavy or saddening, simply contented, and it prompted Tallulah's smile to grow.  
"What shall we do with you? That is a good question now ain't it!" He grinned, and smiled at the feel of her body next to his.  
It seemed they fit so well together, like human puzzle pieces that should always be interlocked.  
"Well, I think, we'll take you to the ball this Saturday, and then we'll have a Forth of July picnic. Then, when I get back from the Pacific, I'll ask you to marry me."

Tallulah's eyes widened at the seriousness that had entered his voice, deepening his ashy tone.

"Then, we'll have some kids, and raise 'em, and then we'll grow old together, right here in Mobile." He chuckled at the surprised stare in her eyes, and popped a quick kiss on her cheek. "But, that's just what I think we should do with you. If you've got any better ideas…"  
Tallulah shook her head, and her curls flew around her. Nothing sounded better to her than his proposed plan. There was nothing that sounded more perfect, even though he was probably teasing. She rolled over and leaned in to kiss him, "Really?" She gasped, her voice breathless from the astonishment. "That's really what you want?"  
He gave a simple nod as his reply, as his hand engulfed hers. "That's really what I'd like Tal. I'd like to have more than just a month with you."

Her heart pounded with excitement, and she relished the words she'd wanted to hear for so long.  
Again, Sidney Phillips was restoring her faith in things she'd stopped believing in.  
"Sidney Phillips." She breathed, shaking her head as her lips quirked upward. "You certainly know how to charm a girl."  
He chuckled, his almond shaped eyes squinting as the laugh took over. "I guess I do. I've already got you into bed with me!"  
She slapped him on the arm, and hopped out of the bed, tearing the sheets off him as she went. "And now I'm leaving!" He moaned, and reached out for her. "Aww, Tal, don't be like that!"  
Unable to keep a straight face any longer, Tallulah hurriedly pressed her lips to his cheek. "I'm kidding with ya Sid. But I've got to run before my parents realize I ain't home!"

Sid savored the push of her lips, and he leaned into the smooch. "Alright Tal. Will I see you again later?"  
She patted his shoulder, "Yeah, if you come out to the farm later."  
He yawned, and collapsed back down onto his pillows. "You thinking you might be up for a nap later?"  
She nodded, and she spread the sheet back across him. "Yeah, I'm sure I can take a nap with you later."  
He tossed her an appreciative glance. "Thanks. You know the more sleep I can get during the day, the less I have to have at night."  
She squeezed his hand. "Exactly what I was thinking."

She headed for the door, but his voice called her back.  
"Tal?"  
"Yeah?"  
"I miss you already."  
Tallulah pointed to the plate of food that sat on his bedside table. "Eat Sidney." She scolded, although her voice remained light. "You're ain't going to stay warm much longer."

x.x.x.x

"And where have you been?"  
Tallulah gave her mother a quick smile as she shuffled through the door.  
"Just on an early walk." She lied, shrugging.  
Darlene nodded, "Well, although you've already had your walking excursion- would you like to join me in going to the Sledge's in a bit?"

Tallulah looked up from pouring a bowl of cereal, and her placid expression readily turned hostile.  
"Do I have a choice?" She dumped some milk into her bowl, and shoved the spoon into her mouth. "Because if I did I wouldn't go."  
"Oh Tallulah don't be bitter." Darlene scolded, as Trula clomped down the stairs, Tara on her heels.  
"What was that I heard? Tallulah being bitter?" Trula laughed at her own comment, while she fixed Tara a bowl of cereal.  
Tallulah snorted, "Oh please. I don't want to have to go there. But please pass my regards on to Mr. and Mrs. Sledge."

Trula plopped into a chair. "Ahh, I see what this is all about now."  
Darlene sighed, her frustration rushing out in the notice. "Tallulah, please don't hold what Eugene did against his parents."  
"Please don't make me go back to that house."  
Trula reached across the table to take her sister's hand. "And don't hold it against him either. I told you, he will come back.

The insolence in Tallulah's eyes glinted as if it were some hardened metallic object. "What if I don't want him to?"  
Her mother gave a little gasp, and dropped her teabag into her cup, while Trula slammed down her spoon.  
"Of course you want him to!" Trula exclaimed, "He's such a good man! And he's just going through a spell. He wanted to do his duty."  
"But not to me."

Darlene hissed as she attempted to retrieve the string of her teabag. "Tallulah, he wanted to fight like all the other boys. Is that so wrong?"  
Tallulah swallowed back a string of justifications, and insults that she would have loved to hurl at the mention of his name.  
"No it wasn't. I just became the lesser of his priorities."  
Trula grimaced. "Oh now that isn't fair?"  
Tallulah flung her hand in the air, little beads of milk dripping off her spoon. "I don't see what's unfair about it? He had a choice, me or gun, bootcamp and the chance to serve his country. And he chose the former."  
Darlene shook her head. "Oh Tallulah. All will be alright when he comes home, and asks to have your hand in marriage again."

Tallulah rose from the table, flinging her napkin on the floor.  
"And what make you so sure that he'll come back and propose again?" She thundered through clenched teeth. "And what makes you so sure that I would say yes?"  
She tossed her head, and blinked hard to hold back tears.  
She'd only cried once this entire year, and she wouldn't break her record. "Has it ever occurred to you, that I don't have to say yes? Am I obligated to marry him?"  
Darlene frowned, "Tallulah, in this house, we've always been friends with the Sledge."  
Tallulah shook an angry finger at her mother, and stepped towards her. "Oh no! Don't you say that, because you've only been in this house for about nine months. Don't you tell me what to do in the damn house that I bought for you!"

Trula's gaze was hurt as she stared out at her furious sister, jabbing fingers in the air, but she waited as the wrath continued.  
"In our old house, we were friend with the Sledges, in that old life, we were. But not anymore. Not for me." She stormed from the room, fighting back angry tears.  
Stomping out onto the porch, she took a seat on the new wood that still reeked of construction.  
The porch planks didn't even creak yet.  
They were too new.  
She took a deep breath, and hoped that her hands would stop shaking.  
She hated that they shook when she was angry- people could always tell when she was frustrated.

There was a timid little sigh, and Tallulah looked to her left to find Tara. Her arms wrapped around a large column, and she shied away from Tallulah's glowering stare. Tallulah smacked her lips, making a sound of regret, while she murmured to Tara.  
"Tara, darling, come out. I can see you behind that column you know."  
Finally, Tara stepped out from behind the column. Tallulah motioned her over, and the child took reluctant little steps towards her aunt.  
"Tara, I'm sorry if I scared you in there by getting angry." Tallulah apologized, as Tara sat down, and folded her hands in her lap. "I shouldn't have been so explosive."

Tara said nothing for a moment, but when she did speak, what she said surprised Tallulah.  
"I hate Eugene."  
Tallulah's tired eyes shot open, and she stared down at Tara. "Why? Because he makes me angry?"  
The little girl scuffed her Mary-Janes against the new wood, and when she spoke her voice was thoughtful. " No, I don't hate him because he makes you angry. I hate him because he makes so sad. You used to never be sad."  
Tallulah ran a hand through her niece's curls, amazed at the 4 year old's observations. "You're right. He doesn't make me angry. He makes me sad because he hurt me." She wiped a little bit of dried milk from Tara's upper lip. "You're a very smart girl to realize that."  
"He have hurt you very much, for you to be sad for so long."  
Tallulah gaze a saddened laugh. "Yes. It did hurt."

"Will you be happy again, Auntie Tal?"  
Tallulah swallowed, and lifted her face to the morning sun. "I'll be happy again." She assured Tara, as she stared up into a blue sky that seemed dull compared to a familiar pair of cornflower eyes. "I'll be happy."  
The news excited Tara, who placed a kiss on Tallulah's cheek. "Good. You've been sad since I was three. And now I'm four. That's a year."  
Tallulah grinned, and revealed a pearly smile. "And that's too long huh?"  
Tara nodded, her head bobbing up and down with fervor. "Uh-huh."

From inside the house Tallulah could hear her mother calling. "Tallulah Kendall! Put on some clothes and get in the car! We're driving to the Sledges."  
Tara stuck her tongue out in the general vicinity of the house, and Tallulah rolled her eyes.  
"Don't get sad again!" Tara warned, as Tallulah got up to leave.  
"I won't."  
Tallulah almost had both feet inside the door, when she heard a small voice rise from the porch.  
"When's Sid coming back? I like Sid."  
Tallulah backed up a few steps, curious at the mention of his name. "Yeah you like Sid?"  
"Oh yes. I like Sid."  
Her mouth eased into another grin. "I do too."  
x.x.x.x

"Oh, it's just wonderful to see you Darlene!" Mrs. Sledge enthused, as she flung open her front door. "And Tallulah! Oh my lord, Tallulah."  
Darlene stepped out of Mrs. Sledge's embrace to reveal her daughter standing behind her. Mrs. Sledge placed a hand on Tallulah's cheek, and shook her head in amazement.  
"My goodness Tallulah! You look gorgeous."  
Tallulah gave her a smile, and nodded her thanks and their host led them into the sitting room.

"Oh Darlene, how are your tomatoes doing?" Mrs. Sledge inquired, "Mine are just dying in this heat."  
Everyone took a seat in some comfortable chairs- although Tallulah still felt uncomfortable surrounded by pictures of Eugene staring down at her.  
"Mine are actually doing fine. We've hired Sidney to tend to the garden back at our old place while he's on leave."  
Mrs. Sledge passed out glasses of ice water garnished with lemon and lime wedges.

She returned to her chair, and clasped her hands together. "Alright Tallulah, you must tell me just a bit about your new job!" Her gaze dropped to note the red stilettos that Tallulah wore with her simple white frock. "It must be so glamorous."  
Tallulah shook her head, "Not really. It's quite boring really. I just go pose for a few pictures and then I head home to my apartment."  
Mrs. Sledge looked unhappy with the lack of detail. "Oh, but the New York lifestyle must be exhilarating, and exhausting." A trite laugh arose from her and Darlene. Tallulah shrugged. "I've been to some of the clubs and a few of the bars, and some restaurants- but really, you've seen one and it seems you've seen them all."  
"Oh, well I'm sure you've had a grand time. What do you do to pass the time when you're not in front of the camera or promoting?"

Tallulah rubbed her thumbs together in an unconscious action, imagining she had a piece of slick charcoal in her hands.  
"I draw." She admitted, her voice quiet. "I draw pictures with charcoal."  
Eugene's mother looked delighted, as she turned to Darlene. "And have you seen her work?"  
Darlene shook her head. "I didn't even know she had taken up drawing."  
Tallulah shifted in her seat. "It's really not a big deal."  
Mrs. Sledge breezed over the topic with a new statement. "Well, I saw pictures of your photochoot with John Basilone. And I must say that they were excellent."

Tallulah mumbled her thanks, as Mrs. Sledge commented on how blonde her hair was.  
Tallulah brushed piles of it awkwardly into her face, to hide her flush as Mrs. Sledge commented on how long her legs looked.  
What would they comment on next?  
The width of her hips?  
The size of her boobs?  
Her ass?

A phone rang in the other room, and the shrill sound pierced the house.  
Mrs. Sledge was sipping on her water, and Tallulah jumped up- eager to leave the room.  
"I'll get it for you!" She offered, as Mrs. Sledge waved her on, coughing a little on her drink. "Please?"

Tallulah trotted into the kitchen, and gave a happy sigh when the door swung closed.  
The Sledge phone always rang seven times.  
She knew this from having an answer it too many times for a lazy and unsociable Eugene.  
She had seven rings to enjoy the unquestioning peace and non-inquisitive silence the kitchen offered.

Now 2 rings  
Tallulah took a deep breath, and somehow found air in a house that seemed designed to suffocate her.  
3.  
She stared down at the black and white tile of the floor, and stepped out of her heels.  
4.  
She savored the sensation of the cool tile against her aching feet. But she wouldn't have worn any other shoes to the Sledge's. Being 5'9 made her feel far more powerful than being 5'6  
5.  
She stared at her reflection in the oven glass, and touched her platinum ringlets.  
6.  
She had a quick chew on her nails, ignoring the fact that they were beautifully painted. She slipped on her red heels, that were the same color as her bitten nails.  
She was now ready to re-enter the room, and take the phone to Mrs. Sledge.  
7.  
She reached for the phone. She answered it with a composed. "Hello, Sledge residence," while she headed for the door.

But the voice on the other end stopped her dead in her tracks, and for the first time in Tallulah's life- she tripped in heels.  
"Oh my god? Tallulah?" The familiar drowsy rhythm of the speech had her staggering backwards on what was probably a twisted ankle. "Tallulah is that you?

She swallowed down a mass of nervous spit that had piled up in mouth. She attempted to swallow down her fear too. Clutching the countertop for support, she coughed up the words she hadn't expected to say for a few years-if ever.

"Eugene, uh, hi." 


	18. Continuum

** To my fabulous trio Ber1719, BerthaJorkins and BloodUponthe Risers- I adored all your reviews. Thank you so much for taking the time and effort to drop me a line. For anyone else whose reading this- please leave me a review. I'd love to hear your thoughts :) ****Anyways, enjoy this chapter. I promise the next one will be longer, and far more climatic! ****Haha, and I think FREMA is a hilarious and awesome suggestion ;) **

"Tallulah. My God, your safe!"  
She stared straight ahead, concentrating on her reflection in the oven's glass. "Yes. I'm safe. Why wouldn't I be?"  
"I had no idea where you were. I had no idea you'd joined the pin up industry." His voice was heavier than usual. "Why'd you do that?"  
Through clenched teeth, she hissed the answer. "Money Eugene. There was no dowry anymore. Your family was no longer obligated to help."  
"Oh."  
"Yeah."

Tallulah counted the strikes of the second hand, while she waited for Eugene's next reply.  
"I didn't know you started modeling. I didn't know you were interested it."  
Tallulah's fingers constricted around the countertop until she heard her hand pop. "I wasn't interested. It was just for money."  
"Your pictures are pretty."  
"You didn't realize they were my pictures." The reply wasn't a challenge, simply a sad statement of what she knew to be the truth. With her dyed hair, and covered freckles- he hadn't recognized her.  
She heard him sigh. "No. I didn't."  
He groaned, and she could imagine him running a stressed hand through his coppery hair. "I wrote you."  
"No you didn't."  
"I did."  
"I never got any letters."  
"I sent them."  
"I never got any."  
"Did you send me any letters?"

Tallulah stabbed at a piece of tile with her four-inch heel.  
"No." She admitted. She lifted her nails to her mouth, and began tearing at them with her teeth. "But I did write you letters."  
"Just didn't send them."  
"No, I didn't."  
"Why?"  
This wasn't a time to cause more confusion, and so Tallulah remained honest. "Scared of loosing you."

She gave a hostile little laugh that shot through the phone.  
It sounded like a burst of static Eugene's end, and he cringed.  
"But I shouldn't have been. Because I already lost you."  
"You haven't lost me."  
"You left me."  
"I had too."  
"No you didn't. You didn't have to be drafted, not with that murmur."  
"Tallulah…"  
"But that's not the bad part Eugene."  
His voice was saddened, and soft. "I know."  
"You didn't tell me you were going. I woke up and found that letter on my pillow. You didn't say wait, you didn't say maybe."

Her fingers were tingling as she clutched the phone, and her knuckles were white.  
"Not maybe, not wait. You said no. No to me. No to us. No to the wedding. You told me to find another."  
She sighed, and leaned against the refrigerator for support.  
"It wasn't that you left to go to war... I, I understand that." She stared down at her hands, noting the line on her finger she still had from wearing her engagement ring. "It was that you _left_ me. You ended everything."  
"And I never should have."

A voice rose from the sitting room. "Tallulah? Darling do you have the phone?"  
"Yes. Mrs. Sledge, would you like to speak with-"

Eugene's voice cut her off with a sharp exhale. "Hey, Tal. No, I don't want to speak with her."  
Tallulah's eyebrow's furrowed. "You should talk to your mother."  
"I'll call her later."  
"Whatever you want."  
He gave a small breath. "Tal, it was, good to hear your voice. You know everything will be all right when I get back."  
She did not return his compliment; instead she delivered her goodbye with a question. "Will it?" She spat, "Really will it?"

She slammed the receiver down on the hook, and marched out of the kitchen.

"Mrs. Sledge, it was only a sales call!"

x.x.x.x

Tallulah hopped out of her mothers car, and immediately ran for hers.  
"Where are you going?" Darlene called, as Tallulah slammed the door to her sporty convertible.  
She cranked the ignition, and threw the car into reverse. "Nowhere!" She yelled back, as she sped out of the driveway, piling clouds of dust around her mothers car.

She sped down the road, her red stilettos relentless on the gas pedal.  
Her unnaturally blonde curls flew behind her in the wind, and Tallulah almost wished they would fly off. If she was bald- no one could comment on her ridiculously platinum hair. She drove on, not stopping until she reached her old driveway 20 miles out into the countryside. She raced down the dirt road, her tires spinning up dust and small pebbles.  
x.x.x.x

Sid stretched upwards, wiping droplets of sweat off his brow. The sun was hot again, and he could feel the tightness in his lower back from bending over the rich soil all afternoon. His hands were cramped from sewing the seeds, and he curled and uncurled his fists. He stared out at the road, and watched a red convertible fly down the sandy road.

He could see the large sunglasses of the driver, and the streaks of golden hair that flew out behind her. A smile spread across his lips, and he wiped his dirty hands off on his jeans. He tossed the packet of seeds out of his pocket, and removed the little shovel from his belt. He wasn't sure why she was speeding so much just to reach the barn. They had all afternoon. His practically invisible eyebrows wrinkled down into his forehead, and he jogged off towards the barn.  
x.x.x.x

She had been on the verge of screwing up her record.  
The personal record she'd set of only crying once this whole damn year.  
But as she sat in her own cloud of dust that had caught up with it's automotive creator, she could feel the wetness welling in her eyes.

She smacked the steering wheel with her hand, and slammed her head back into the seat.  
She didn't think it could give her more of headache that she already had. Eugene's voice had been horrible to hear.  
His heavy accent carried so well through the telephone, and she missed its melodious rise and fall. But she'd resolved nothing from talking to him, except to realize that she was still hurt by his departure.  
It wasn't an open wound anymore, but a scar.  
A scar that was still ugly, red and swollen.  
A scar that still hurt if pressed onto hard.  
A scar that hadn't fully hardened.

But as she saw Sid emerge from the cornfield, jogging towards her, instantly all her injuries were erased. The grin he was shooting her seemed to absorb all her sadness. He slowed to a walk, and Tallulah knew that he was observing her, seeing if she was alright.  
But she couldn't take his patient appraisal.  
She needed to be in his toned arms.  
Now.

She ran to him, flinging herself into his embrace. Her sudden weight sent them toppling into the sunburnt grass, and soon she felt it's scorched blades against the back of her legs. Although he had been surprised, Sid quickly settled into their new position on the ground. Her lips strove to meet his, as she stretched to meet him. His hands were on her hips, anchoring them against almost novel waves of pleasure that were slowly beginning to rock their bodies. Her hands were kneading the muscles in his strong shoulders, while his fingertips exploring her legs. His constant kisses were the perfect potion for forgetting. His fingers crept around the edges of her skirt, but he never surpassed the cotton boundary.

The innocent entangling of their bodies had almost become an art form. An art from that the two of them had perfected. Her hands were brushing his sweaty bangs out of his face, but it was to no avail. As their kissing continued under the hot sun, new beads of sweat trickled down their bodies. Finally, neither was able to continue due to the exertion in the heat. Gasping, both fell back into dry grass that was now damp with their perspiration. tterly exhausted.

Tallulah pulled down her skirt, while Sid leaned back, a grimace on his face.  
Mentally, he conjured up as many disgusting images as he could in order to contain his arousal.  
_Nuns. Japs. Jungles. Mud. Nazis. Dead puppies. Blood. Spinach. _  
She stared over at him, her face dropping in concern.  
She wondered what she had done to him. "Sidney?" She breathed, her voice tentative as she watched his grimace. "Sid are you ok?"  
He braced one last time. _  
Robert Leckie_.  
Oh, that did it.  
He turned to her with a pained grin on his face. "Yeah I'm fine Tal."  
"What did I do to you?"

He gave a small chuckle, and pulled her into his awaiting arms. "What didn't you do? You wore that little white dress, and have on those damn heels. You kissed me like you never would again." His lips traced down the side of her jaw, as his hands wrapped around her middle. "I'm more than fine babe."  
She smiled up at him, and noticed the soil smears on his jeans. "Been working hard today?"  
He nodded. "Yeah, I've gotten about half a row done so far."  
Tallulah bit his lip, and tugged on it. He savored the feeling of her teeth and gave a little groan.  
"Am I distracting you?"  
He fell back into the grass, taking her with him. "Like hell you are."  
"Tired?"  
"Yes."

Tallulah snuggled up to his side, and felt comfortable small as she aligned her body with his.  
His arms wrapped around her, and soon she felt his breath on the nape of her neck.  
"Wanna go out tonight?"  
"Out?"  
"Yes, out. Dinner? Drive in movie?"  
"Sure. I'd love that."  
He pressed a kiss into her bare shoulder. "Good."  
In only a few moments, she felt his breathing deepen. And only a few moments after than his eyes closed.  
She gave him a sweet peck on the forehead, before settling into the grass to sleep the afternoon away in his arms.

x.x.x.x

"And you expect me to believe this bullshit?" Screamed the drill sergeant, staring down at Eugene's dirty uniform.

Eugene nodded his head, his helmet falling down in his face.  
"You expect me to believe that you didn't have a clean uniform for drills today. Sledge, we did laundry a few hours ago!"  
A volley of chuckles arose from the company, and Eugene clenched his teeth together.  
"Sir."  
"The United States Government was generous this year boys!" The sergeant announced, marching in front of the soldiers that stood in an anxious 'at ease'.  
"You were each issued three combat uniforms, which we wash every Wednesday and Saturday. And you expect me to believe you don't have a clean uniform."  
"Sir I wasn't at the laundry this morning."  
"Well where the hell were you. On the phone with your girlfriend?"

At his joke the entire company laughed again, and waited to hear the Private's excuse._  
Shit._  
Eugene couldn't believe what he was going to have to say.  
He couldn't believe he was going to have to affirm the Sergeants crappy joke._  
Shit._  
"Well, son, what were you doing? Taking a shit, calling your girl?"  
More laughter.

Eugene swallowed. "Sir, I was on the phone with my girlfriend, Sir."  
The sergeant's eyes seemed to pop out more than usual, and he smacked the side of Eugene's helmet.  
"Christ! I oughtta have you court marshaled." He paused, and turned back to Eugene, who had no become the subject of howls and cheers.  
"And what were you and your darling talking about? Humor me Sledge."  
"None of your business, Sir."  
There was utter silence.  
All laughter ceased as everyone waiting for what was to be a horrifying display of the Sergeant's wrath.  
But the Gunny said nothing for a moment as he stared down at the boy whose red hair peeked out from under his helmet.

"Fair enough boy!" He glanced out at his unit of replacements for the K-3-5.  
"Because I've seen combat..." The Sarge began, pointing to Eugene's dirtied outfit. "I'm letting him off the hook. Because in real combat, the last thing you're worrying about is the appearance of your fucking clothing."  
Men nodded, while other silently cursed Eugene for getting the Gunny started on his combat days.  
"In real war, your clothes are the least of your problems." He stared down at Eugene's name stenciled on his dungarees. "So Private Sledge, this is your one warning."  
"Sir!"

The Gunny pointed back to the sandy field where the dummies were set up for target practice. "Now, your forget all about that girl Private!"  
"Sir yes Sir!"  
"Because when your in combat, you've got one thing and one thing on your mind- obtaining the objective, and staying alive. There isn't room for women." He stared down at Eugene, who thought being court-martialed would be better than this public repraisal.  
"So, what are you going to do for me Son?"  
"Forget about that girl Sir!" Eugene screamed.  
"When are you going to do it?"  
"Right now Sir!"

The sergeant waved off his company. "Three rounds around the track! Go! Go! Go!"  
Before Eugene could begin running the sergeant called out to him. "How about that girl Sledge?"  
Eugene ran in place and glanced back at the sergeant. "What girl sir?"  
The gunny almost smiled.  
The boy was learning well.

x.x.x.x

Sid's eyelids shot open, and heaved another breath before rolling over. The motion served to stir Tallulah, who gave a little whimper before snuggling back into his arms. He smiled down at her, and planted a gentle kiss to the top of her head. Her very blonde head. He didn't care that they'd changed her. Changing her hair, her skin and her clothes could not disguise who she truly was- the sweetest girl he'd ever met.  
He was grateful for the time they spent out at her old place, out where they used to call 'nowhere.' He was grateful for the rest she brought him in the afternoons, so he didn't have to sleep at night.

The old farm had become their home, with the cornfields as their bedroom, and the soil as their soft mattress. He could have laid there with her forever in the quiet stillness that she brought him. As he lay in the grass, he could envision their future. The future he wanted to have with her. He played figurative pictures in his mind, portraits of their potential life together. He saw her in a new wedding dress, not the one he'd seen her in when Eugene had left her. He saw her swollen with one child and then another. He saw them having years together, rather than just a month.  
He shook himself from the images, and ran his hand up her smooth arm.

He still had to get through the damn war first.

x.x.x.x

"Tallulah where are you going tonight?"

Tallulah glanced away from the bathroom mirror momentarily, but only long enough to make eye contact with her mother.  
"Out." She replied, hoping the vague answer was enough.  
Darlene placed a hand on her hip, "And where to? You're dressed up…"  
Tallulah shrugged, and finished zipping the back of her black sheath dress. "Dunno. A restaurant."  
Her mother raised an eyebrow. "And with whom?"  
Tallulah grabbed her tube of lipstick, and swiped some on. She popped her lips, attempting to even the stain before looking back at her mother. "Sidney."  
Darlene huffed. "And did I give you permission to go out?"  
"Well, no-"  
"Exactly."  
"I'm 18."

Her mother didn't try to pull the 'your still living in my house' argument.  
Technically, this house was Tallulah's.  
"Alright. You may go."  
Tallulah snorted, and stepped into a pair of black heels. "Thanks."  
There was a shrill ringing in the kitchen, and Tallulah excused herself to answer the phone.  
She picked up the telephone expecting to hear Sid's ashen drawl, but she didn't.

"Essie Jo?"  
Tallulah stamped her foot against the ground, and silently cursed.  
"What the hell to you want Frank?"  
"Well there you are! Thank God I was so worried.  
"Tallulah scoffed. "What, didn't know where your money went."  
"Precisely. You never told me where you were going. I woke up to find that your car was gone, and the staff said you'd just left."  
"I was planning to leave for my summer vacation in a day or so anyways."  
"Letting me know was a very considerate gesture."

His humorless sarcasm had her seething, and she wondered if her could hear her angry breaths on his end of the line.  
"I've got news about your return."  
"And?"  
"You'll be flying out to your California home that we just purchased to begin shooting for a film there, while we continue to photoshoots."  
"Joy."  
"Essie Jo, I've gotten you a film role! You should be excited."  
"Thrilled."  
"I spoke to your ex-fiancée yesterday."

The words caught Tallulah off guard- and she knew that he heard her gasp.  
"So did I." She recovered, before her tone changed into an accusatory attack. "He said he'd sent me letters and I never received them. You know anything about that Frank?"  
"I know that he's liar. If you didn't get the letters, he didn't send them."  
Tallulah's eyes narrowed, and she clutched the phone as if she were strangling Frank. "I know one of you is lying."  
The sound of a car pulling in could be heard, and Tallulah mumbled into the phone. "Gotta go."  
"See you in California Essie Jo."  
"Hopefully not."

She flung down the phone and ran to the door where Sid was waiting for her.  
But Teola had already answered it, with Trula by her side.  
Sid was staring down the gauntlet, glancing between both sisters.  
But he shot them an easy smile. "Trula, Teola. Wonderful to see ya'll tonight."  
Teola's face softened, and she opened the door to allow him in further. "Welcome Sidney, you staying for dinner?"  
Trula gave the boy a knowing glare. "You're far too dressed up to be staying for dinner here."  
The flush rose to Sid's face, and he could feel it spreading. "No. I'm uh, taking Tallulah out tonight for a dinner downtown."  
"Oh." Trula mouthed, stepping aside. "I see, you two have a wonderful time."

Teola said nothing for a moment, but after Trula left she nodded towards the bathroom. "I'm rooting for you."  
The comment caught Sid off guard. "What?"  
Teola shrugged. "I'm rooting for you. Because you seem to make my sister very happy."  
Sidney grinned, and nodded his thanks. Teola continued. "And besides Vodka, you seem to be about the only thing that can do that lately."  
Sid shook his head at the thought of Tallulah downing bottles upon bottles of the abrasive alcohol. "Is she still doing that?"

Teola pause for a moment, and it seemed she was unsure whether to go on.  
But she did.  
"No. A few nights ago, she poured all the Vodka into the bathtub and buried the bottle back in the woods."  
"She quit?"  
"No, not the smoking. But the drinking yeah." Teola turned to shoot him a warning glare. "She's putting all her eggs in your basket. Don't drop it."  
Sid smiled at the information, a warmth engulfing him from the inside. "I won't. I promise."  
Teola stepped aside, and knocked on the bathroom door. "Tallulah! It's Sidney!"

Tallulah emerged from the bathroom, her heels clicking against the parquet floor.  
She looked like a dream in that ebony dress that skimmed a few inches above her knees and cinched across her curves.  
Her legs looked long, and heavenly in those black heels, and Sid marveled at her platinum spirals that spun down her back.  
"Hey Sid." She breathed, fingering a curl nervously.  
"Tallulah." He groaned, the pain of his attraction obvious in his drawl. "You look gorgeous."  
She gave him a little smile, and he took her arm. "You look pretty handsome yourself." She leaned in, and nicked his ear with her teeth. "Although I have to say, I do like the shirtless look even better."

He chuckled, and squeezed her hand as they trotted out the door and towards Tallulah's showy car. He opened the door for her, and she climbed in, smoothing her black skirt against the leather.  
He hopped in as well, and started the engine. And excited grin shot to his face when he heard the purring of the car.  
He revved the gas, and took off out of the driveway.  
Their hands locked together the second they were out of sight, secluded by their on cloud of dust

As soon as they had reached the small, country highway, she leaned over in her seat. She pushed her large sunglasses out of her face, and her fingers entwined in his sandy ringlets- like they would for the rest of the summer.  
He took a last look at the road, before their magnetic lips connected- like they would until the autumn.  
Like they would for another twenty days.  
Like they would until Sid went back to War.

And as Tallulah and Sid hoped- like they would for continuum. 


	19. Octane

A huge thank you to everyone who took the time to leave me a review. Ber1719, Hansolo18, BloodUpontheRisers, and BerthaJorkins. Ya'll's comments truly mean the world to me, and I'm so glad that you dropped me a line. Thank you so much!  
Also a huge thank you to my not-so-anonymous reviewer Francesca, who happens to be a good friend in real life :)  
Anyways, I can't remember what I rated this story, but this chapter is definitely M.  
Consider yourselves warned.  
I hope everyone enjoys this extremely long chapter. Let me know what ya think!

And so the summer passed…

Tallulah and Sid spent innumerable afternoons in the shroud of the cornfields. She always spent the afternoons out in nowhere, so that he could sleep. And most nights he would take her out places- to the town, to the beach, down the river. One evening they'd decided to canoe down the briny little creek that ran through both of their yards. After going a mile or so, Sid succeeded in sinking the canoe. Some evenings Sid came over for dinner, and others Tallulah went to his home. However blissful and perfect the summer was- there was looming deadline.  
And when the deadline arrived she would move out to California to work on a film, and he would head back to the Pacific.  
The date was fast approaching.

x.x.x.x

"Oh Tallulah try this one on!" Teola handed her another dress over the fitting room door. "I like this color."  
Tallulah scoffed at the purple dress and tossed it back over the door. "I don't think so."  
Teola shrugged, and held the dress up to her own body. "Hmmm."  
Trula rolled her eyes, and stared at her reflection in the mirror. "I think this is the one…  
Teola nodded at the chocolate colored dress that fell to the floor and somehow made her 6 month pregnant sister look attractive. "Yeah, that's the dress for you Trula. Oh I wish Bryan could see you in it!"  
Trula smiled and touched her stomach, "Me too."

Tallulah emerged from the dressing room, wearing a blue dress that hung to her sides. "I dunno." She mused, shrugging at her reflection. "I don't like this one."  
Teola rolled her eyes. "I think you should have just worn one you had in New York."  
Tallulah nodded towards her oldest sister. "I like the brown on you."  
Trula waved her back into the fitting room. "You two need to hurry and find what you want to wear. I'm ready to go."

Teola snorted and grabbed another handful of hangers from a rack filled with bight colors and different textures.  
"Never. The ball is tomorrow, and we should have done this weeks ago."  
Trula yawned and watched Tallulah pull a dress of another rack. "Didn't get around to it. It's not that big of a deal for us anymore. We don't have a debutante this year."  
Teola's gingery eyebrows bent, and she stuck out her bottom lip. "That was the most fun I think I've ever had in my entire life."

There was a scathing scoff, and Tallulah emerged from the dressing room, followed by what seemed to be miles and miles of fabric.  
"Oh Teola. If the best thing you've ever done in life was being presented as a debutante at the July Ball? Well, you haven't had much of a life."  
Teola growled, and her eyes shot to Tallulah's dress. "Yeah." She breathed, nodding at it's crimson shade and ballooning skirt that extend a few feet behind Tallulah. "I like this one on you."  
Tallulah nodded, petting the huge skirt of the dress. "I'm tired of snug and clinging. That's all we shot in New York."  
Trula yawned. "And I'm tired of waiting on you two!" She patted the bag her dress was in. "Now go pay for yours and let's get home. I've got to get dinner on the stove. Ya'll know mom and dad went out tonight?"  
Trula marched out of the store, and Teola shook her head. "She's no fun anymore."  
Tallulah rolled her eyes, "Anymore? She never was!"  
Laughing, the sisters returned to their fitting rooms.

x.x.x.x.

After dinner that night, there was a ring on the doorbell.  
Teola jumped up to get it.  
"Who in the world?" Darlene mused, while Trula pointed a fork at her. "The formal conformations. You know they always come the evening before the ball. So we can send them back in case there are any last minute changes."  
Tallulah pushed a few green beans around her plate. "Why do they do that? She wondered. "Why can't we just call the hostess? Most everyone does have a telephone! Ya know?"  
Darlene placed a hand on Tallulah's wrist. "Tradition honey. It means something to some people."  
Donnie looked up from his paper, and eyed Tallulah. "Are you going with that boy?"  
Tallulah stabbed at a green bean. "Yep. Will that be a problem?"  
Her father flipped a page of newsprint. "Shouldn't be… As long as he keeps his respectful distance."  
Tallulah found herself rolling her eyes. "Dad I'm not fourteen. I don't need you to give me the talk."  
Darlene coughed on her sweet tea, and Trula's eyes went wide.  
Her father flipped to a new page in the newspaper. "Oh look, the Rays won!"

Grinning, Tallulah made her way to the door where Teola was ripping open envelopes.  
"Gimmie mine!" Tallulah demanded, not wanting the pretty stationary to be ruined.  
Teola threw the envelope towards her, and she caught it. Carefully, she broke the seal, and pulled out the card.

This is to confirm that Miss Tallulah Kendall Adams will be arriving on the arm of Mr. Sidney Phillips at the July Ball on July 30th for the hours of 6-10.

Tallulah liked the way that sounded.  
The way it said the she would be on his arm.  
Which she would.  
She couldn't control a small burst of giggles as she trotted up the stairs.

She arrived in her room, and fell back upon the bed, exhausted from her late night outing with Sid yesterday.  
She fell asleep clutching the conformation card, her finger tracing the script that proclaimed his name.

x.x.x.x  
The dinky room was dim and when Sid turned on the light it only helped to accentuate the tacky wallpaper.  
He fingered the brim of his cap, and there was a certain awkwardness to the motion. "Well, we're uh- we're here!"

His announcement was met with a simpering smile, by the shy girl that had stood by his side all summer in Melbourne.

He was breaking the 'articles of war' by bringing her here- by he didn't care.  
He might die tomorrow.  
Tonight was all he truly had left.

He took her arm, attempting to give her some sort of comfort as he shut the door.  
She smiled up at him, and weaved through the room, touching various objects- the lamp, the table, the curtains- as if they had some sort of significance. Finally, she arrived at the bed. She seemed to wobble a moment before sinking down to the dirty comforter.  
And then she gave him another smile, which coaxed him away from the door.  
He dropped his hat onto a dresser, and ambled towards her.  
As he came closer, he could hear her squirming, but only because the bed creaked. He sat down, and a loud squeak shot through the room.  
He gave her a goofy grin, and her smile widened.

There was a sinking in his stomach.  
A twisting type of nervousness he'd never felt before.  
He placed two uncomfortable hands on her shoulders, as his inept fingers began pulling down the straps of her dress.  
She gasped at his touch, and their lips met with innocent fervor. She was leaning backwards now- and Sid was unsure whether it was from desire or displeasure. She tugged at his uniform, and soon his shirt was off. He followed by removing his pants, and he watched as her eyes shifted down to his boxers. She let loose a little giggle, that served to soften the air which had become heavy with expectation. Her dress was sliding off now, and his hands were touching places that he'd only dreamed about. The flush in her face was vermilion, and her legs felt just as warm in his grasp.  
At last, her slender body was freed from the dress, and she lay naked in his sights.  
He tugged off his boxers, taking in her curves, and tapers.

"Oh Gwen." He breathed, while she laughed his name in response. What came next was a cacophony of creaking, groaning, hastened apologies, and clumsy, virginal maneuvers. However, the motions finally blended into some sort of pleasurable rhythm. His body felt warm and weak as he stared down at Gwen, whose eyes were wide open. He collapsed upon her, his arms shaking.  
Their sweat mingled, their skin touched and their breathing evened as hands ran through each others curls.  
"Sidney Phillips. You've just broken rule number one and number two."  
"Too damn bad."  
He pressed a kiss into her hot cheek, and pulled the sheets up over them.

He really liked Melbourne.

x.x.x.x

Sid jolted awake, and his hands clutched his chest. Terrified, he glanced to his side, hoping not to see some woman lying beside him.  
He was relieved to find that the moonlight that sifted in though his window did not illuminate a naked body.  
He sank back into his pillows, breathing a sigh of relief. He'd never told Tallulah about his one night with Gwen.  
Grimacing, he concluded that he probably should. He gave a little groan- he certainly didn't want to.  
The pillow felt too hot against his cheek, and the sheets suddenly seemed scratchy against his skin.  
He covered his head with one of his uncomfortable pillows and tried to sleep.

But after a while Sid realized that his efforts were futile. He almost hated this dream more than dreams of combat.  
This dream didn't scare him- it made him feel tremendously guilty. He growled, and hopped out of his bed.  
He plodded over to his chair by the window, where he could watch the world from a protected distance.  
Sid flipped on his metal desklamp that got so hot he could have cooked an egg on its shiny surface.

He sat down in his chair and picked up the piece of driftwood he had been carving. He'd hacked away large portions of the stick, and was finally fashioning a tiny portion into a circular band. He'd sanded it and smoothed it down numerous times, and he was only guessing on the particular size of the band. Muttering to himself, Sid began running his carving knife over the wood, scraping off more and more shavings.  
He flipped on the radio, to hear a popular song playing on the station.

"That old black magic has me in its spell, that old black magic that you weave so well."  
Sid sang along with Johnny Mercer, as his drug his knife over the gnarled driftwood. "Those icy fingers up and down my spine. That same old witchcraft when your eyes meet mine."  
Sid held out his project at arms length, and admired it, as he continued to sing the words. "I hear your name and I'm aflame. Aflame with such a burning desire that only your kiss can put out the fire." He began sanding down the ring again, his hands rubbing over the wooden curve.

"For you're the lover I have waited for…" The song ended, and Sid shook himself from what seemed to be some sort of dazed state. He thought about Tallulah too much.  
That girl was gasoline.  
Octane.  
Dangerous.

He picked up a small wooden fragment that had fallen by his bare feet. He placed it under his lamp, and waited to see if it would start smoking.  
When it didn't, he shook his head and persisted in sanding down his creation.

It was going to be a long night.

x.x.x.x

"Oh, I don't believe so!" Tallulah yelled, staggering towards the bathroom. "Don't you get in there before me!"  
Teola giggled, and skipped a few circles around her sister who was burdened with they heavy skirt of her ballgown.  
Teola pumped a triumphant fist in the air, and gave her sister a little wave as she slammed the door.  
"Bitch!" Tallulah called, kicking at the door with her high heels. "I need to get in there."

After a few moments, Teola opened the door and then dashed back to the toilet to flush it.  
Tallulah rolled her eyes, and watched Teola apply various coats of lipstick to her pucker. She picked up her own tube of red gloss, and swiped some over her lips. Teola raised an eyebrow, as she watched Tallulah attempt to apply some dark mascara to her blonde lashes.  
"Ever done this for yourself?" She teased, snatching the tube from her incapable sister.  
Tallulah shook her head, and blinked as Teola pressed the brush dangerously close to her eye.  
"Nope. Someone else always has. I never wore this stuff, until, ya know…"  
Teola nodded, and continued to coat her sisters lashes with the black substance. "Well, consider me your makeup artist for the evening."  
Tallulah laughed, while Teola then grabbed her trusty stick odf kohl liner, and pressed it to the rims of her lids.  
Tallulah's eyes began to water, and she blinked hard. "Ugh, I hate this stuff."  
Teola shrugged, and pointed to her sisters reflection in the mirror. "But look what it does for your eyes!"

Tallulah gave an appreciative nod at her nicely darkened eyes- it did serve to intensify the green.  
"Yeah they do look nice." She admitted, shooting her sister a smile that served as thanks. Teola grinned, and continued to apply her own, far more dramatic makeup, sweeping the liner outwards to give herself a cat eye. Tallulah fiddled with a curl that had not been swept up into the curly bun atop her head. Trula had left a few tendrils down to frame her face. There was a knock on the door, and Trula let herself in, she reached for the liner too.

"Hey help me get this on!" Teola called, as she attempted to slide into her slinky dress. Tallulah laughed as Teola sucked in her stomach, while she yanked upwards on the zipper. "Need a corset?" Tallulah joked, poking her sister in the stomach.  
"No!" Teola spat, as she felt the zipper pinch the sensitive flesh of her underarm. "I need some Midol!"  
Trula gave her a sympathetic glance, and pointed to her purse. "I've got some in here, if you want some later on."  
Teola nodded, cringing as she straightened up.

There was another knock on the bathroom door, and Darlene's voice arrived into the cramped bathroom. "Teola, Tallulah! Your dates are here." Teola burst from the mirror, for once uninterested in her own reflection, while Tallulah took a deep breath and steadied herself for a moment. She hadn't seen him in two days, due to all the preparations for the July Ball. Already, she could feel the butterflies forming in her stomach. She laughed off the emotion, and stepped out of the bathroom and into the hall, where Sidney was waiting.  
x.x.x.x

Holy Hell.  
That was all Sid could think of when she glided into the hallway. He swallowed, as she gave him a little wave. Her mother was talking to them, saying things about when she expected her daughters home for the evening. Sid thought he heard something about twelve thirty. But he wasn't sure. He couldn't concentrate on anything but Tallulah in that dress.

It was red.  
Bright, crimson red.  
The kind of red that made people stop and stare.  
The kind of red that got you hot just from looking at it.  
And already the foyer felt much warmer to Sid.

The top of her dress was tightly fitted to her chest, and her breasts were caged into a sweetheart neckline. Two straps purposely hung off of her smooth shoulders- tempting him to pull them down further. A little below her waist, the dress flared out into a huge skirt, one that threatened to entirely engulf the couch she was now perched on. Her vermillion train swept down around her feet, which she had pushed into a pair of golden heels. Her blonde curls had been amassed atop her head into a pile of curled gold.  
He openly gawked at her, unable to lift his jaw.

Tallulah smiled, and patted his hands, which were covered by dress gloves. "Hey, you ready to go?"  
He gave her a quick nod, hoping she wouldn't notice his obvious distraction.  
But she did.  
As he took her hand and led her out the door she gave him a sideways smile. "You didn't hear anything Momma said did you?"  
He shook his head, and admired how the dress hugged the curves of her hips before flaring out into that huge skirt. "Not a damn word."  
Laughing, she plopped down into the seat of her convertible. "Be back by twelve thirty. And keep an eye on Teola. Think you can do that?"  
His fingers fumbled with the ignition, while he planted a kiss into her cheek.  
He could already smell her perfume.  
He shook his head. "Nope. Ain't gonna be able keep an eye on her- cause I can't possibly take my eyes off you."  
She giggled, and the laugh sent little prickles of electricity shooting down his spine. "Fair enough. Shall we go?"  
He took a last whiff of her scent, which would soon be replaced by the smell of the rushing wind. He squeezed her hand, and threw the car into reverse. "Let's go."

x.x.x.x

Sid pulled the car into an empty parking space, and exited before helping Tallulah maneuver her enormous train from the vehicle.  
She gave him a quick kiss on the lips, and felt his teeth clamp down on her own lips in an attempt to lengthen the embrace.  
"Keep it on the down-low." She advised him, as she already counted the number of people staring at them standing at her car. "You know."  
A devilish grin shot to his lips, and his hand lowered to the small of her back.  
"Oh yeah, Miss Adams. We'll be sure not to make a scene here."  
Tallulah's eye shot to the side, noting the stares, and gasps she was receiving from arriving with him. "  
Too late." She winced, watching someone quickly try to avert their gaze. "I think we already have."

Sid chuckled and took her arm, leading her to the door. At the door she was met by the surprised smile of the hostess.  
"Oh Tallulah! How amazing it is to have you back in town." The older woman pressed a kiss to her cheek.  
Tallulah plastered a smile to her painted lips, "It's wonderful to be back in town Mrs. Elliot." T  
he woman gave Sid a nod. "And you too Sidney, always good to have one of our boys back."  
Sid gave her an uncomfortable grin. "Thanks Mrs. Elliot. Although I hate to tell you I'll be leaving again in a few hours."

Tallulah cringed, and he stroked her arm, attempting to silently comfort her. In the excitement of getting ready for the ball, she'd almost forgotten that he was leaving at four in the morning to head back to the Pacific.  
She felt like she was being reminded of the remaining time, on some sort of exam.  
She wished that she could have paused the summer a mouth ago.  
She wished she could have paused the summer a minute ago.  
Hell, she wished she could pause it now. But the morning would it come, like it or not.  
Mrs. Elliot's face softened a little, and she gave him a pat on the shoulder. "Well, I do hope you enjoy your evening Sidney Phillips."  
"Thank you."

He led Tallulah away, and into the ballroom. He noticed just how heavily she was leaning on his arm. He took her arm, and raised it in the air, smiling at the jazzy music that floated through the air. "Tallulah. Please, cheer up!" He begged, fixing her with a pair of puppy dog eyes he knew to be irresistible. She shook her eyes, attempting to hold back tears. She didn't even try to convince herself that it was due to the liner or mascara.  
"It's our last night." She reminded him, her soft voice in a whisper.  
He shook his head, and began attempting to twirl her around the floor. "But only for a while!" He prompted, shooting her an excited grin. "Then I'll be back." Her sullen expression, lit up at the words. She nodded, and swallowed back what could have become an eruption of sobs.  
"Yeah." She murmured, bracing a brave smile to her face. "You'll be back."  
Sid thought of the little ring that set waiting on his table at home. "I promise I'll be back."

She let the swing music drift her away, and soon she became lost in Sid's dark blue eyes, and the melody. Her knees bent a little, and her hips, where Sid's hand's inappropriately rested, swayed with the rhythm. Pairs twirled and twisted on the dancefloor, making swirls of color and movement.  
But she was happy to swaying in Sid's arms, in what felt like her own private corner of the room.  
"Hey Sid?"  
"Mhuh?" his answer was sleepy, relaxed. "What is it Tal?"  
Tallulah ran her fingers down the stripes on his uniform, tracing the raised fabric. "Are you gonna write to me?"  
He nodded, seeing the reflection of his gleaming golden buttons in her eyes. "Everyday. And I'll send my letter as soon as I get a chance."  
He squeezed her hand. "Will you write to me?"  
Her head felt heavy, probably due to all the hairspray, and bobby pins. "Everyday." She repeated, her words blowing onto his neck. "I'll write you everyday."

Although the low light gave the room a private feel, the eyes of everyone were on the young men and women debuting their formal courtships at the ball. It was tradition, protocol, for couples to present themselves at the dance. Tallulah watched other couples scamper around the dancefloor- and wondered if they'd ever had to deal with a heavy history before.  
Mobile wasn't ready to accept the fact that Tallulah Kendal Adams, was done waiting for Eugene Sledge.  
But she didn't care.  
She was done caring about anything but Sidney Phillips and their future together.

He ran his hands down her slick sides, and pressed a kiss into her cheek.  
"Everyeone's watching us." He muttered, unamused by the older couples that sat surveying the young parings from the punch bowl.  
Tallulah shrugged, and it seemed her slim shoulders might just rise up out of her gown, and the dress might fall to the ground.  
"I don't care." She whispered, her voice hot and fierce in his ear. "I'm done caring about what these people think. I didn't come to this ball to be formally debuted, not did I come to be so obviously stared at."  
She ran a hand down his chest, feeling the smooth fabric of his dress blues. "I came to dance with you."  
He chuckled, and twirled her around, careful to step on her sweeping train.

Suddenly, there was a round of applause as the jazz band sat down to take a break. Everyone shuffled off the dance floor, and Mrs. Elliot and her husband took center stage. She tapped on her champagne glass, as Tallulah and Sid took a seat at a table with Teola and her boyfriend Tom.  
"Everyone! I'd just like to thank you for attending the July Ball that we were honored to host this year."  
More applause. Tallulah snorted.

"These have been difficult times in Mobile and I'm so proud of how our community has risen up, and banded together."

Another snort from Tallulah.  
This wasn't the community. This was the elite one tenth of Mobilan society that happened to make over a million dollars a year, or have impressive family ties.  
The real community was down at the shipyards, building, all day, everyday.  
She glanced up at the clock that had just struck 10. The third shift would just be rolling in.

"So I'd like to invite a very special guest we have with us tonight." Sid glanced around the room- he didn't see any special guests.  
"You may know her from when her parents owned the tire factory. You may know her through the wonderful Sledge family, who could not be here tonight. Or just from around town. But certainly, we all know her from her illustrious modeling career with Esquire magazine."  
Tallulah balked.  
Her feet planting into the ground, as she deepened her seat in the chair.  
No.  
This wasn't happening.  
"So please, if she would be so kind, I'd love to invite Miss Essie Jo Adams to the stage."  
More applause.  
Tallulah swallowed, and stared out at the spot on the stage Mrs. Elliot offering her.  
She literally couldn't see straight, and Sid prodded her in the back. "Tal, come on. Go up and say something."

She was too angry to shake her head.  
She was too angry to do anything but sit there and seethe.  
But Sid pulled her to her feet, and escorted her up the stage.  
Silence fell upon the room, as Tallulah glanced around, her hands resting on the poof of her huge skirt. The microphone crackled a little, as she sucked in a breath to calm herself.  
She couldn't believe Mrs. Elliot called her a guest.  
She sure wasn't a visitor.  
She'd lived in this damn town for 18 years.  
And she sure as hell wasn't Essie jo.  
How dare they call her that.  
How dare they call her that when they knew her rightful name.

She gulped down her anger, and attempted to stop the shaking of her hands- lest the audience mistake it for nervousness.  
Like hell she was nervous.  
She'd been before crowds of thousands before.  
From his seat, Sid shook his head he could only imagine what was running through her mind.  
He saw her hands shaking a little, but he knew that it wasn't from anxiety.  
Tallulah didn't get nervous.  
She got mad.

"Uhh, I want to thank you for having me." Tallulah began, adjusting the mic. "Last year was one of the only years I'd missed the ball." She hoped her comment would set the record straight- she wasn't a guest.  
This town, This nosy, lazy, town was her home. And she loved it.  
"I've only been away from one year working at Esquire, and as Mrs. Elliot noted, the town has changed."  
As her voice carried across the room, Tallulah was proud of how composed it sounded.  
"And while this community has banded together nicely. I'd like to remind everyone of another community that has also banded together. A community that is currently rolling in for a 12 hour shift, working with steel and iron to build battleships while we dance and drink champagne. I'd like for us to be grateful for how they have also banded together to put out more ships, jeeps, missiles and supplies for our troops."

There was murmuring from the crowd, as if they weren't exactly sure why they were being reminded of the middle class on this extravagant night.  
"So while we celebrate the summer, and the debuting of these beautiful ladies and couples." She raised her glass full of champagne in acknowledgment. "I'd like for us to also keep those workers in our thoughts, those who are giving their all in the factories. And I'd like for us to give our all for the war effort as well, in whatever ways we can."  
She glanced around the crowd, who were suddenly jolted from their sparkling champagne, and pretty dresses, by thoughts of the war.  
And as Tallulah walked off the stage to a round of applause she wouldn't have had it any other way.  
They needed to be reminded. Too often they tried to forget. And what scared Tallulah was the fact that they were often successful.

She took her seat, carefully spreading her train around her.  
Sid gave her a smile, and their fingers intertwined under the cover of the table. "I think that was wonderful."  
She raised an eyebrow, and downed the rest of her champagne in one swallow. "I make one hell of a guest speaker." She hissed, as Mrs. Elliot took the stage again.  
She thanked Tallulah for her 'reminding' words, and then began calling up young couples to the stage for recognition on their engagements.  
"Introducing the future Mr. and Mrs. Darrel!"

Tallulah grabbed Sid's leg, and her fingers curled around the flesh. "Let's get out of here." Her eyes cut to his, and he saw some type of craving desperation in her gaze.  
"Alright." His reply was swift, ready and willing.  
She didn't have to tell him where she wanted to go. He already knew, as he rose from the table. She attempted to be discreet, but the rustle of her silky skirt turned a few heads. She gave them a little smile, as she took Sid's arm.  
They stalked out of the ballroom to a stream of whispers.  
"They're talking." He noted, as he clasped her hand tighter to his side.  
"Let 'em talk." Tallulah spat, as she picked up her skirts, suddenly feeling even more rushed.

They fought their way through the foyer, and she felt various fabrics scratch against her arms. They jogged down the stairs, and neither noticed the glowing luminaries that crisscrossed the yard. She jumped into the car, and drummed her fingers against the door. He pushed his white belt provokingly lower before he hopped in too. They sped out of the gravel lot.  
Suddenly, every second seemed precious.  
Sid flew down the road, the red convertible streaking into the night.  
Finally, they arrived out at her old home. They hadn't spoken since either had entered the car. But somehow he'd known where they'd needed to go. A light rain had begun to sprinkle down, and Sid threw a tarp over the car, before returning to Tallulah.  
She still looked like a dream in that billowing dress.

She stared at him in that uniform, and the navy fabric tapered so perfectly to his broad shoulders and toned arms. While the green of his dungarees served to dull his eyes, the navy of his dress blues only highlighted his eyes. There was a small silence, and soon Tallulah felt Sid press some type of object into her hand.  
She broke their hold, to see what he had just placed in her hand. She gasped, and a hand went to her mouth.  
"You've still got my rock!" She exclaimed, her head tilting in wonder. "After all these years you've still got that rock..."  
He wrapped his arms around her, "You got my heart…" Her eyes grew wider at his revelation. "Always did."  
Their lips connected in the cool rain, that had now served to soak his uniform and her dress.  
And as soon as their lips met deeply for the first time that night, Sid knew exactly what she wanted.  
He'd been pretty damn sure the entire night, but as she let his tongue explore the recesses of her mouth- he knew.  
She broke away form him, and he brushed away soaking curls that had been plastered to her check.  
She studied the high collar that wrapped around his neck- she wanted to rip it off.  
"I need you." She whispered, in a voice so quiet it almost blended with the rain. "I need you Sidney."  
And there was his verbal conformation.

He strode forwards, and picked her up, while she wrapped her legs around his waist. She eyed the red stripe that ran all the way down his pants, pointing to a place they belonged- the floor. Their lips met again and again, and only broke apart once, when Sid shouldered in the door to the house. Tallulah never thought that this was how she'd end up back in her old home- in Sid's arms. He grabbed at her sides, her ass, her curls, while her hands ran down his back, and toyed with his belt. Their frenzied motions were jerky from an overpowering passion that refused to subside.

He glanced around for a bedroom, a bed, a sofa, anything.  
But found none.  
In a swift motion, he yanked a tablecloth off the table, and old glass dishes shattered on the floor.  
Ignoring the broken glass, he laid her on the table and fell atop her. She was moaning, tugging at the sleeves of his uniform, which he hastily removed. He tossed the shirt to the floor, and grinned down at her. Tallulah's ballgown skirt spread out over the table like silky red sheets. She propped herself up on her elbows, craving more and more of his addictive mouth.  
But he pressed her back down into the table with persuasive lips that bit and nicked at her neck.

"Have you done this before?" Her words came between little explosions of breath, as her chest heaved against the tight bodice.  
"Once." He admitted, his lips momentarily leaving her skin. "You?"  
"Once." Her words were reluctant, but his hands that glided down her sides comforted her.  
"Again?"  
She nodded, while something in her eyes begged him to take her. "Yes."  
Their voiced tangled in the darkness, awkwardly fumbling with the questions.

He sunk his teeth into her neck, while he helped her slide out of her expensive dress, which had now become nothing but a nuisance.  
The gown lay in a crimson crumple on the floor, and Tallulah lay almost naked on the table.  
With her dress removed, Sit could only state at the woman who lay in front of him.  
She was breathing fast, which only served to emphasize her heaving breasts that were still encased in a lacy black bra.  
Her platinum hair spun out onto the dark wood of the bare tabletop.  
He found himself gazing into two molten emeralds which shimmered in a way that was ungodly.  
The tempting contour of her hips begged to be touched, and his hands clamped down on each side of her, anchoring her to the table.  
His pants had come off long ago, but as Tallulah felt the subtle brush of his cotton boxers, she wanted nothing more but to remove them too.  
And with wanton fingers she did, pulling them completely off his narrow hips.

"This isn't quite fair is it?" He muttered, his ashen voice growing deeper and more guttural than Tallulah could ever imagine.  
"Suppose not." She returned, her lips playing on his ear, as she unfastened her bra. She tossed it to the floor, and her lips slid into a sideways smile that was sinfully crooked.  
In a single motion he flung her panties to the floor, and soon began a trail of kisses that started at her navel, and would end somewhere much more pleasurable. His lips were the gasoline, feeding a fire he'd already ignited from pure passion. She giggled at his straying kisses, but soon his mere mouth did not satisfy her. His hands, his kisses, and his thrusts were not enough.  
Gasoline had been poured on her fire, and now she wanted octane  
He was still too far away, as he held himself by his forearms…

But she craved to feel his weight, the force his body toppling upon her.  
So she drug him down by his dogtags. Her fingers curling around his silver tags and pulling down on the chain until their lips met.  
She needed to feel the metal that had laid against his chest upon her own, and soon his dogtags dangled between her bare breasts.  
His arms gave way at the slight tugging and finally their bodies pressed together, slick with sweat and rainwater  
"Tallulah, I-" Sidney began, his head shaking as the words failed him.  
She traced her nails up and down his back, and she laughed at the shiver it produced. "You what?"  
He sowed kisses up and all across her collarbone. "I have to tell you that I- well, Tallulah. I-"  
She gave him an easy smile, as she fingered his blonde fringe. "You love me?"  
He gave a pronounced nod, and shot her a sheepish grin. "Uh-huh. I love you."  
She squirmed with happiness, and let her lips run the length of his neck. "I love ya too."

His hands grabbed handfuls of her sticky curls, and their lips connected.  
Neither noticed the stream of headlights that pierced the darkness of the little kitchen.  
He laid his head on her chest, and she ran her hands through his hair. He could hear her heartbeat through her hot skin.  
But neither heard the slamming of car doors as they murmured sweet whispers into each other's ears.  
There was a sudden bang on the door, and instantly, Sid's lips left her mouth.  
Her eyes grew even larger in the darkness, and she glanced up at him in horror.  
He attempted to grab her dress, and throw it on her, but it was too late.

The door flung open and Sid was caught by a flashlight's beam, her vermilion gown in his shaking hands.  
"Tallulah Kendal Adams!"  
Tallulah winced at the bright light, and Sid lowered his body on hers in an attempt to cover her.

"Oh, please, Dad!"


	20. Wait for Me

**I really don't even know where to start. I'm so happy that everyone enjoyed the last chapter :) Like really, I'm just so ecstatic that ya'll liked it. Means so much to me. Thanks to Ber1719 for her page long review, she took such time to comment and let me know how she felt, and it's just so appreciated. Also a huge thanks to BloodUpontheRisers and BerthaJorkins for their kind comments- ya'll are the best reviewers ever! Here's a short chapter i managed to write his weekend, since school just started for me.**  
**Bleh. Anyways, I hope everyone enjoys.**

"Get away from her!" Tallulah's father roared, as his flashlight beam illuminated the sight of his daughter pressed down by Sidney Phillips.  
."You get your hands off of her now!"  
Sid removed his hands from Tallulah's side, but remained atop her, protecting her own modesty.  
"Now boy, you can either get your clothes on now, or I'll take you to jail naked-"  
"Sir."  
"Is that where they send rapists these days? Military prison?"

Tallulah held out a hand, her eyebrows wrenching together. "Dad, no. This is not-"  
Sid glanced down at her, and she could see her own reflection in the blue of his eyes. She could see herself pinned under him.  
She could see her sweat covered skin, and the scratches she had left on the table.  
She knew what this looked like.  
And she could have blamed it all on him.  
But she would have never.  
Not when she loved him like this.

"I wanted this." Tallulah whispered, placing a shameless kiss to Sid's burning cheek. "I wanted this."  
"So this is what I have been paying you for?" Tallulah's father thundered, approaching the table quickly. "This is what you've been doing out here all summer? Fucking my daughter?"  
"Stop it dad." Tallulah screamed, pointing a finger towards him. "He didn'tt."  
Donnie was shaking mad, his fingers clenching up into fists. "Get off my daughter." He seethed, his flashlight beam reflecting off their naked bodies. Tallulah clung to Sid's shoulders, while her nails almost pierced his flesh. "Stay." She muttered, delivering her own contradicting command. "Don't leave."  
"Get off her!"  
"Leave. And he'll get off me." Tallulah countered, adjusting her hair to cover her exposed breast.  
"You've got five minutes, Tallulah Kendall, before I rip you out from under that boy."

Donnie slammed the door, and Sid banged his head against the table.  
Tallulah gazed up at him, her hands trailing down his back. "It's alright." She soothed, "Everything will be fine."  
In exasperation, he pushed sweat soaked curls out of his face. "Tallulah, your father just walked in on us, almost having…" His words trailed of. "Your father just walked in on us!"  
"I don't care."  
"He's going to have your hide. And he'll probably have me castrated!"  
Tallulah let a hand snake down his abdomen, and wrap around his endowment. "Oh, that would be such a shame."  
A pained grimace passed over his face, and he shivered at her provoking touch. "We don't have time for this." He muttered, slipping his lips to her cheek.  
"Screw his timeframe."

Moaning, Sid sat up and lifted her to her feet. The word 'screw' didn't need to come from between her wet lips.  
He could not help but admire her ample contours in the darkness, as she slipped back on her silky dress. She stepped into the skirt, and bend over to pull up the front.  
The bend in her shapely back was far more beautiful to Sid then that dress. Sid slipped back on his boxers, and then his uniform.  
Tallulah took one last look at his bare body, before his dress blues covered it.  
She took his hand, and he attempted to brush off her scarlet gown.

"Don't be sorry." Tallulah demanded, her eyes begging him to be unapologetic.  
The squeeze his hand delivered to hers almost bushed every one of her finger bones together. "Like hell I'm sorry about this." He murmured, letting their lips meet once again. "This had been the best night of my life." He planted a quick kiss against her cheek, as there was a knock on the door. "And it's because of you."  
She beamed up at him, her lips parting to reveal teeth that glinted in the dimness.  
She slung open the door, her hand in his.

Her father glowered at the both of them, before he finally spoke. "As of this moment, you're trespassing on my property." He jabbed a finger at Sid. "And you've got exactly 1 minute to get off it before I call the cops on you."  
Tallulah flicked away an indifferent strand of hair. "Dad. This is ridiculous. Calm down! You're just angry."  
Donnie grabbed at both sides of his head. "Tallulah I've every right to be angry with you! You are my daughter! My beautiful, lovely, honorable daughter." A fist flew in Sid's direction. "And he ruined you."

Her fingers rubbed comforting patterns into the back of Sid's hand, while answer came in one confidant breath. "He fixed me."  
"What did you say?"  
Her gaze did not waver, and her voice remained resolute. "He fixed me."  
Her father lunged at her, and shook her shoulders as if to wake her from some daze. "Fixed you? Tallulah he ruined you."  
With the back of her hand she slapped her father against his chest. Her eyes flashed dangerously, and another set of hands came to her shoulders- this time restraining her.

"How dare you say that he ruined me!" Tallulah screamed, her voice blaring in the quiet darkness that was only disturbed by the sounds of crickets and cicadas. "How dare you? Am I of any less worth to you because of this? Do you love me any less? Because he didn't even touch me like that." She jerked downwards on her skirts, unleashing her anger on the ballooning gown. "What if I told you that I had already been 'ruined?' If I told you that Eugene Sledge ruined me about a year ago?"  
Her father's face dropped, and he gaped at her. Sidney cringed at the words.  
They stung him.  
He didn't like to think about sharing her body with anyone- especially someone he knew had hurt her so deeply.

"Eugene? Did he?-" Her father's voice trailed off, as if he couldn't bear to say the last words. The thought was too painful- how had he ever allowed himself to trust these boys?  
"He did."  
Her words were black as the darkness, and equally unnerving.  
Her father plastered a hand to his face, and pulled it down.  
"Get off my property." He growled pointing away from the house. "Get off."  
Tallulah's lips pursed, and she glanced up at her father. "How did you find me?"  
His forehead wrinkled, and for a moment it seemed the anger maybe subsided. "Someone called from the ball, said they saw you leaving."  
Tallulah gnawed on her lip, and didn't stop until she could taste the blood pooling in her mouth. "They called? Someone called you? Do they think I'm still 16 years old?"  
"Tallulah-"

"I'm still a child here aren't I?" Her words hissed out, angry little musings striking at the blackness. "Even after living and modeling in New York City for a whole year- I'm still not allowed out past 12:30? I still need to be monitored?"  
She shook her head slinging blonde curls around. "Well, I may hate my job. I may not be too damn proud of it. But I have a job, I live in a different city, I provide for myself. And hell, I provide for You, Mamma, Teola, Trula Bryan, and Tara! So don't treat me like I'm thirteen and live under your roof. Cause I'm 18, and you, well, you live under mine."

She grabbed Sidney's hand and tugged him away from her father. She marched across the yard, and hopped into the driver's seat of her car. She snapped her fingers, demanding for the keys. He dropped them into her hand, and she then stabbed at the ignition. She roared out of the driveway, her toes curling around the gas pedal. "Do you need to go home?"  
He looked surprised by her question. He'd already packed his bags, and told his family goodbye. They didn't expect him home again. He told them that's he'd leave from the dance.  
His grimy duffels laid in the back of Tallulah's trunk, along with his gift for her.  
"No." He muttered, staring angrily at the sky, which had seemed to brighten.  
"It's three in the morning." Tallulah noted, pointing towards the dash.  
"Don't tell me."  
"Your train boards at four."  
"Don't talk about it."  
She smiled, and attempted to push the impending number from her mind. "Alright."  
He gave a frustrated grunt. "I'm sorry about your dad."  
"Don't talk about it."  
Her words earned her a grin from him, as he rubbed her leg. He appreciated her wit.  
"Alright."

A small silence dropped over them as they arrived at the train station. Already men were throwing bags and suitcases and duffles into luggage cars. The train was already smoking, rumbling idly on its tracks. Conductors were readying the passenger cars, while some workers were still shoveling coal.  
It seemed everyone was eager to head out, to head off to war, maybe to get it over with.  
But not Tallulah.  
She felt the tears springing to her eyes as she watched the train's steam shoot up into the moonlight.  
She didn't want him to go.  
She parked the car, and grabbed one of his bags hoping that by being useful she could stifle her emotions.  
But it couldn't. The tears began dripping from her eyes when she saw him hoist the dufflebag over his strong shoulders.

He gathered her in his arms, whispering comforting promises in her ear as he inhaled the intoxicating scent of her. His fingers played down her lean neck, as his mouth met hers. She grabbed fistfuls of his curls and squeezed them tightly, hoping to anchor herself in the moment. She could feel the weight of the stares she was receiving as she stood there in her tattered crimson ballgown, platinum curls streaking wildly down her back. But all that mattered in that moment was the touch of Sid's fingers, the pressure of his lips, and the tangible affection in his cyan gaze. He broke away from her, and she practically yelped when he pulled away. But he calmed her with a smile, as he set down his bag and rummaged through it She watched him shift through piles of dungarees that she'd sew up for him. Finally, he grabbed something in his fist and Tallulah laughed.

"What, you have another rock I gave you?" He chuckled and shook his head, "The rock is for me. I'm always keeping that rock."  
He dropped something into the palm of her hand, and left her to gape at it. "But this? This is for you."  
Tallulah gasped and stared down at the little ring that lay in her hand. It was fashioned out of gnarled old driftwood, and as she ran a finger across it she would feel the patterns waves had etched into it's surface. The inside of the band was smooth, and silky to the touch. It had obvious been sanded over and over. He took the ring from her and placed it over the mark that Eugene's engagement ring had left.

"I'm going to wait for you Tallulah. I'm going to come back here, and I'm going to marry you. This-" He touched the ring that now sat where Eugene's once had. "This is my promise to you. My promise to come back, and well, to love ya every second until I do."  
The streetlights from the train station painted dark shadows around the familiar curves of his face. But her expert hands caressed them anyways, knowing the curve of his jaw like a well-worn road.  
"I'll wait for you too Sidney. I love you, I can't- Oh Sidney I love you!" Her speech flew out on a hasty stream of breath, and he reveled at her rushing words.

He grabbed her face and jerked it to his while his lips assaulted hers in a final attempt to make contact. Their tongues danced in a mournful, pleading waltz but even their feverish contact could not stop time's progression. Tears trickled down the sides of her cheeks, and as his hands touched face, Sid felt he was once again kissing her in the rain. She gripped to his strong back, patting it ever so often to assure herself that he was still there. The blowing of the train's whistle pierced the constant hum of the station, and their lips connected in a last, desperate effort to hold on.  
He took a lingering step backwards, their lips sliding away.  
She sniffed back another round of tears as she ran her hands up his chest, and straightened his uniform.

"Last call for the 4:00 train to San Deigo!" The conductor called once more, "Last call."

She removed her hands and took a step away, nodding towards the train. "Go."  
He grabbed her arm, and squeezed it. "Wait right here for me Tal. I'll be back." He gave her arm a little shake, as if to demand her understanding. "Wait right here for me."  
Tallulah flicked a few tears from beneath her eyes. "Okay. You come back to me."  
"I will. I promise."  
"Be safe in California."  
"Be safe…" Her words trailed off, neither knew where he was going."

"Marine last call!" The conductor tapped his watch and Sid turned to face her once more.

"You don't need to help me say it this time." He joked, "I can say it myself. I love you Tallulah."  
Tallulah pasted a smile to her face, and gave him a wave. "I love you Sidney.  
He turned away from her, and shouldered his bag.  
She fingered her ring, as she watched his lanky figure disappear into the plumes of smoke that were pouring from the train.

x.x.x.x

Tallulah pulled up to an old gas station, whose pumps had long rusted over. She hopped out of the vehicle, and dumped a few quarters into a payphone. Her fingers punched the dirty buttons, and she lifted the receiver to her year. She was greeted by what seemed to be an eternity of dial tones before there was a click on the line.

"Hello?"  
Tallulah breathed a small sigh of relief when she heard Teola's voice on the other end.  
"Teo, it's me."  
There was a burst of static, as Teola gasped. "Tal. Good lord. Dad found you?"  
"Yeah. Like two hours ago."  
"I tried to keep him here."  
"How'd that go?"  
Teola snorted, "Obviously not well, because he's back here steaming mad. I pretended to call Tom and tell him that I was sneaking out. Dad didn't even care. And I said it when I was right next to him."  
Tallulah laughed, smiling at the fact that her sister was trying to protect them. "Yeah? Wow, I guess he was pretty worried about me if he didn't care that you were sneaking out."  
"You've no idea. And then I yelled that I was going to dye and cut my hair… He still didn't care."  
"Well, thanks for trying."  
"I'm sorry I couldn't help you more. I'm sorry he caught you."  
"Doesn't matter. Sidney would have had to leave within the hour anyways."

Tallulah could hear yelling and crying in the background. "He's going on about how he doesn't want you to end up like Trula."  
Tallulah suddenly understood the crying and screaming she heard in the background. Teola continued. "And obviously it's upset Trula."  
Tallulah gave a little scoff. "What's so wrong with ending up like Trula anyways?"  
"What's so wrong with being young, pregnant and in love with a soldier whose never home? I dunno. There are worse things."  
"Exactly."  
"Well are you going to end up like Trula?"  
Tallulah was silent for a moment, as anger welled up at her. She was angry that she had been deprived of the chance to 'end up like Trula.' She was angry that she hadn't had the chance to make what her father would have called 'a mistake…" She was angry that she cwasn't able to make love to the boy she loved. She didn't even know if she'd ever see him again. No." Her answer was final, affirmative. "We never actually-"  
"Alright. Yeah. You won't end up like Trula."

Tallulah sighed, and grit her teeth as she listen to the sound of Trula's distraught voice wailing at her father.  
"Listen, Teo, I called to tell someone that I'm heading out to California, and I'm heading out now."  
"You aren't coming to say goodbye?"  
By now Tallulah could hear her mother attempting to regulate the fight, and the arguing quickly escalated. "Do you blame me?"  
"No."  
"Well, I just thought someone should know that I'm going."  
"Are you taking the train like you were scheduled to?"

Tallulah glanced back at her convertible that sat idling in the darkness.  
She couldn't wait to reach eighty miles an hour and still be urging the car onward.  
She couldn't wait to feel a wall of wind in her face.

"No. I'm driving."  
"Well, you be careful. I'll handle telling mom and dad. I'll cover your ass here."  
Tallulah chuckled, and toyed with the hard cord that connected the phone to its booth. "I appreciate it. I, uh, I love you Teo."  
"I love you too Tallulah. And there's no 'uhh's about it."  
"Hold down the fort with Tom, and I'll fly you out to Cali for a while."  
"Will do. When will we hear from you again?"  
She could hear the quarters dropping into the slot, which would soon cut off the line.  
"Bye Teola."  
"By-"

The line went dead, and Tallulah hung up the receiver.  
She hopped into her car, and threw it into reverse.  
She sped out of the station's parking lot and down the road wondering exactly how long it would take her to reach the west coast.

x.x.x.x  
"You think it's happening soon?"

Eugene stared over at Harper and shook his head. "No."  
Mueller tugged the cigarette from his lips. "They can't train us forever. We've been doing this for too long. I thought the need in the Pacific was urgent."  
Harper scoffed, "I hate this place." He stared longingly upwards at his poster of Essie Jo Adams, wondering when he'd actually get to stare at a real woman. "We only get in to LA about once every two weeks. Does anyone remember Camp Lejume? We got to town every other day!"  
Mueller grinned. "That was nice. But hey, we're getting a shipment of nurses in on Monday to do a round of shots!"  
Eugene tossed down his book. "Oh great. Shots."  
"Hey, it's female company."

Harper's head cocked in puzzlement, and he pointed to his poster. "Ya know, I think I read in some tabloid that she's going to make a movie with Gary Cooper."  
Eugene's eyebrows rose, and he adverted his gaze from the glossy picture of Tallulah that hung on the wall. He could just imagine the lasts words she had hurled at him. Those bitter, rhetorical questions.  
"Yeah, what kind of movie?" Mueller asked, as he watched Eugene drift in to the same dazed state he always did whenever they talked about Essie Jo Adams.  
The boy had issues.  
"Western." Harper informed him, his voice excited. "Maybe we'll see her around if we ever got to go to Hollywood.

Eugene didn't listen to the rest of the conversation. Harper's proposition had been far too thought provoking.  
if he could see her, if he could hold her, he could admit his mistakes. And she'd believe him.  
He had to see her.

"Hey, when's she coming to town?"  
Harper shrugged. "Ehh, the magizine estimated filming would start next week. We could cruise around next Friday night?"  
Mueller nodded. "Sounds good. Nothing better to do."

"Yeah." Eugene added, his heart already racing at the thought of seeing Tallulah. "Sounds good." 


	21. Anywhere but Here

** Oh lord. So I'm sorry it's been so long since an update. School is already hellishly busy for me, so I'm really only getting the chance to write on the weekends. So this thing should start updating probably every Sunday night or so, just as a heads up :) As always all my thanks go to Ber1719, BloodUpontheRisers, BerthaJorkins and HanSolo 18. Every single review ya'll leaves just helps this thing to move forward, and it means so much to me that ya'll take the time to comment. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter!  
**

"No, No, Miss Essie Jo. That's not your line."  
Tallulah clenched her teeth, and curled her fist around the wad of paper that was her crumpled script.  
"Yeah, my mistake. I'm sorry."  
The director nodded back towards her, adjusting his sunglasses. "Alright, then. To Have and Have not- scene 3- take 3. And…" he paused to glance at his camera. "Action."

Tallulah glanced up, feigning surprise by letting her mouth hang open. "Oh, Mr. Morgan, I didn't realize you were here."  
The man across from her gave a smile that would have made most women sink to their knees. "Helen, did you really think I wouldn't have come for you?"  
Tallulah attempted not to crinkle her forehead while she fought to remember the next line. "Well, we, the resistance members haven't heard anything in such a long time."  
"I couldn't leave you here Helen. You knew I'd be back."  
Tallulah could visualize the script in her mind, and the orders it gaze her.  
Blush, turn away, blink.

She did all three motions, before his next line came.  
"Although I do regret it has taken so long… There was an incident at the hotel on Martinique"  
Again, Tallulah was distracted by the dialogue.  
She didn't even know where Martinique was.  
But with a quick glance around the studio painted with palm trees, golden beaches and turquoise water, she was promptly reassured that the place was tropical.  
"An incident?" Her pause had been a bit too long, and now the other actor was struggling with his script.  
"Well-"  
Tallulah bit her lip and waited for the him to deliver his line.

But Humphry Bogart just broke out into a smile, and hung his head. "Sorry, that's me. Drew a blank there."  
The director sighted and shook his head. "Come on Humphrey, she just got on a roll!" The director pointed a an accusing finger at Tallulah. "She just got on a roll."  
Tallulah snorted, and wished she could have just sapt into the lens of the directors expensive camera. "Thanks so much Dan."  
Humphrey gave her a little rub on the shoulder. "You're doing great Essie Jo! It's hard acting for the first time."  
Tallulah raised a eyebrow at the man whose movies she'd religiously watched. "Oh I'm sure it is."  
"Really, this is fine for a first try."  
She shook her head, and studied his dark, deep-set eyes, remembering how she had Teola used to practice kissing their bedposts, pretending the mahogany poles were him.  
"Fox must be run by a bunch of idiots to hire me. With all due respect Mr. Bogart, this movie is going to tank."  
He chuckled, and gave tousled her curls. "Ah, well make a movie star out of you yet. Pictures, well, you've got them down."  
She continued to focus on her script. "Uh-uh." She tossed him a smile before plastering a surprised look back on her face.

"And action!"

"Well, Mr. Morgan, I'm so glad you made it here. Regardless of the incident."  
He placed a hand on her back, and drew her a bit closer. "I would never leave you Helen.  
Tallulah fought to keep the lines between acting and reality straights as Humphrey's dark hair and eyes suddenly bleached into Sid's blonde features.  
She shook her head and stepped away from him, her hands raised in protest. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry Mr. Bogart. I'd need a moment."  
"Take all the time you need." The celebrity replied as Tallulah headed towards a bathroom.

She charged into the restroom, and quickly twisted the sink letting the water stream from the faucet.  
She thrust her face down into the bowl of the sink and splashed the cool water on her burning cheeks.  
She lifted her head and stared at her reflection in the mirror.  
She was overwhelmed at what she saw.  
Her platinum curls had been replaced by a dark wig, that sent straight brunette strands streaming down her shoulders.  
They'd lined her eyes heavily, and dulled the green in an attempt to make them look brown too.  
She wore loads of bronzer to give her the appearance of a Caribbean native, or at least someone who had been living there for quite some time.  
But underneath this costume, lied her blonde curls and pale skin, and underneath that little façade, lay her original red curls and freckled skin.

She banged on the mirror with her fist, and she blinked hard at she glanced at herself.  
She hated being two people- Tallulah and Essie Jo.  
And She hated being three people even more.  
She despised acting.  
The last two years of her life had been a complete act.  
She ran a hand down the sides of the grass skirt she wore and took a few deep breaths before emerging from the bathroom.

She ambled back out to the shooting area, and the director cut her a glare.  
"Ready Miss Adams? I want to wrap up this scene by noon at least?"  
She nodded while a few stylist touched up her bronzed features, and adjusted her long wig.  
When they receded, the camera swiveled towards her and Humphrey, while she awaited the dreaded call. "Action!"

"Well, I'm glad you didn't." Tallulah's voice came out in the breathy way she'd wanted it too.  
"So am I." He pointed towards a boat that set against a backdrop of the ocean. "So shall we load up, and get you back to Martinique?"  
"Oh yes, but let's not forget Paul."  
"Paul?"  
"My partner Paul. Surely you remember him?"  
She felt sickened as Humphrey Bogart peered into her eyes, and pretended to loose himself in her apparent beauty.  
"No, I uh, believe I must have been distracted."  
Tallulah nodded towards Walter Szurovy, who had appeared on the set and was slowly ambling towards them.  
Humphrey chuckled, and nodded towards the man. "Oh yes, Paul. Well, let's load up shall we? Besides transporting dangerous members of the resistance, I've got some other cargo aboard." He clasped Paul's hand in a shake, while he escorted Tallulah towards the boat set against the backdrop.  
Finally, Tallulah heard the squeak of the director's chair as he swiveled.  
"And cut! That's a wrap for today."

Tallulah sighed an audible sigh of relief, as she ripped of her brown wig, to which both actors chuckled and gave her a pat on the shoulders.  
She found herself smiling up at them and their good nature. She wasn't sure how they did this hellish pretending for a living.  
But then, technically- she did it too.  
"It gets hot in there!" She proclaimed, dropping the wig into the hands of a stylist.  
The director pointed towards Tallulah, "Your agent wants you back to Bel-Air as soon as possible. He thinks that he's going to be able to fit in a fashion shoot before you go work at the Canteen tonight."  
Tallulah shook her head, "That's Frank for you."  
The director shrugged, "Well, whatever happens you be here tomorrow at 10, Lauren Bacall is finally getting in, and we can start hitting the meat of this movie."  
"Joy."

Humphrey chuckled, and she smiled at his laughter, enjoying the warmness of the sound.  
"Alright, I'll be there." She told the director, as she trotted out of the shooting lot and out to the curb where her limo was waiting.  
"Home miss?" Her driver asked, as she climbed into the limo, grabbing her bottle of vodka from the seat next to her.

"Anywhere but here Thomas." She muttered, tilting the bottle upwards. "Anywhere but here."

x.x.x.x

The limousine pulled into Bel-Air, and after a moment of curving up shady hills, Tallulah spied the gate to her new home.  
A few security guards nodded at the shiny black vehicle, and opened the large white gate. Her car gild through the entrance and she studied the strange looking palm trees that lined her drive, and served to shield her home from tourists and passersby. Even her new house was shrouded by all types of exotic foliage, which only allowed small glimpses of stucco to peek through the verdant defense.  
The car stopped, and suddenly her door opened.

"Miss Adams, I'll be here to pick you up at six for the event at the Canteen?"  
She blinked, and attempted to jar herself from contemplating the strangeness of her new home.  
"Um, yes that's fine thanks."  
Thomas nodded, and gave her a sympathetic smile. "It's a whole 'nother world out here isn't it?"  
Tallulah stared at the glow of the California sun on his ebony skin, and realized he was talking about how tiny his shrimping hometown of Greenlet had been.  
"It is." She breathed, glancing at the vines full of magenta blossoms that curled around the rafters of her roof.  
"It's going to take some getting used to."  
Thomas grinned, and motioned towards the midday sun. "I know, it's the middle of the day, and it's warm, but not hot." Tallulah noticed the warm air on her bare skin, it didn't feel hot and heavy or drenched with humidity.  
She didn't know if she liked it.  
It felt too open, too free.  
"You're right, Thomas. This will take some getting used to."  
Her driver smiled and tipped his hat at her. "I'll see you in a few Tallulah."

She nodded, and gave him a wave as she ran a hand over the rough, white stucco walls of her house.  
She admired the largeness of her rustic looking door, and how she almost had to fight past palm fronds to reach the entrance.  
She opened the door to see her living room, which was furnished with bright southwestern colors, and decorative Indian cases and blankets dotted the room. In the two weeks she'd been living in Los Angeles, she hadn't even entered her new kitchen.  
She was pretty sure it was painted red.  
Her bedroom was painted a deep burnt umber, and just like in new York she had a puffy white bedspread adored with colorful pillows.  
An Indian blanket was thrown over the white quilt, and two nights' worth of vodka sat on the bedside table.  
Tallulah plopped down onto her bed and picked up the last letter that Sid had sent her.  
She'd read it every morning and every nights- and she wanted, she needed to read it now.

_To my dear Tal, _  
_I steamed out from the port today, and so far as we know, we're still headed to the Pacific. You shouldn't worry about anything, because this troop ship moves so slowly that the entire War will be over by the time we get to the front. Yesterday, we were in the bunks and I can't tell you how many guys were putting up your picture. I admit that I was too. _  
_Tal, I miss ya like hell. I can't tell you how many times a day I curse Hitler for starting up this whole thing in Europe, and the Japs for starting it up here- because it's keeping me from you. I miss you so much Tallulah. And Lord knows how much I love you. I hope you're enjoying California, I hear the weather there is wonderful, and I hope that you like acting. I can't wait to watch you in a movie. Maybe you'll like acting better than shooting? I hope that you are as happy as you can possibly be, without me there. Ha-ha. _  
_With all my love, _  
_Sidney_

Tallulah tucked the letter back into the safety under her pillow, but only after pressing a kiss to the paper she knew his hands had handled.  
She grabbed her vodka, and ambled out onto the veranda her bedroom opened out to.  
She could see the rooftops of other Bel-Air houses, hidden by their own shielding plants.  
She could see the Hollywood Sign out in the distance, and wondered why anyone would dare pervert the rugged hills with those block letters. She lifted the bottle to her lips, and noticed another limo winding up the curvy road that led up the hill to more and more famous residences. She chugged a few sips of the strident drink and savored the sting. The vines that curled around her entire home had wound through the wrought iron of her veranda, and Tallulah reached out for one of the hot pink flowers. She picked it from the vine, and twiddled it between her fingers. Leaving her vodka on a porch table, she walked back inside and grabbed apiece of paper.

_To my Sidney, _  
_Thank you for your latest letter._  
_And thank you even more for keeping your promise to send me a letter as much as you can. I've saved every single one. I hope your steam continues to go well, and I know since you've left training and that you're at sea I won't be able to write you as much. So I'll miss you even more that I already do. I'm afraid to tell you that I don't like acting more than modeling. Actually, I hate it even more. In this ridiculous movie that I'm filming I'm playing some type of islander. I've got straight brown hair, and brown eyes, I'm tanner than I ever thought possible and I run around half naked all the time. I hate being Essie Jo Adams and this islander. But, I guess that's acting. Anyways, I hope that the voyage goes well for you. And that you stay safe. Don't do anything stupid Sidney, I love you too much._  
_-Tal _

Tallulah placed the exotic little flower between the folds of the paper and then tucked the letter into an envelope. She'd put in in the mailbox first thing tomorrow. Sighing, she grabbed a note that had been pasted to her bedroom door, wondering how she didn't notice it first. Obviously, it was from Frank. Groaning, she crumpled it into a ball after reading his instructions on what to wear for the night at the canteen.  
He'd suggested her red dress.  
Tallulah quickly decided that she felt like wearing green.  
She tossed the note into a trashcan, and fell back upon her pillows.  
She'd thought about trying to explore the town more.  
Even though she'd been in LA for two weeks it still felt as alien as the very first day.  
But she was too tired, and in too foul a mood.  
She covered her head with a pillow after setting an alarm for 5:30

x.x.x.x

Harper stumbled into the bunker, laughing as Eugene gave him a pop on his ass with his belt.  
Mueller grinned at the sight and settled back into his cot, a beer in hand.  
Harper threw a pillow at Eugene who dodged it and continued to charge his bunkmate.

"God I love weekends." Mueller sighed, fingering the peeling label of his beer.  
Eugene growled as Harper delivered a hit to his side, and distractedly flung playful punch in the other privates direction. "And this isn't the best part!" Harper exclaimed, as he jumped into his bed, pulling out his latest issue of Yank. "Tonight's the best part."  
Mueller looked up and his eyes were laced with confusion, "Tonight?"  
Eugene and Harper gaped at him, their mouths dropping a little bit.  
Eugene whapped the front of the magazine where Rita Hayworth sat smiling out at them. "Yeah, tonight? We're going out to Hollywood?"  
Harper quickly opened his own bottle of beer, and pointed it around the room as if to correct Eugene's previous statement. "More specifically we're going to the Hollywood Canteen."

Mueller looked unconvinced. "That place is always packed."  
"And with good reason!" Eugene exclaimed, "You know who works there?"  
Mueller's head swung from side to side. "I know I know, Betty Grable, Rita, Essie Jo."  
"And tonight," Harper pointed to his large poster of Essie Jo Adams that hung on the wall. "She's working at the canteen tonight and tomorrow."  
Eugene's eyebrows shot up. He hadn't yet heard this detail.  
"Really?"  
Harper snorted. "Really, you think the schedule lies?" He pointed to a page in the magazine where names, dates and times seemed to be listed.  
It meant something that Tallulah was working on his night of leave.  
He knew it had to mean something.

"So we'll go get in line tonight and have a good time at the bar." Harper concluded, a huge grin spreading across his face.  
Mueller shrugged, but gave them a wink. "And while you're having a good time at the bar, me and miss Adams will behaving a better time in my bunk." He patted his cot provocatively, while Harper tossed an empty beer can at him. "Aw, you take it back!"

Eugene chuckled at the situation, but Mueller's silly joke made him uneasy. He didn't like the thought of Tallulah with other men.  
He liked to think he was the only one.  
In fact, he was probably still the only one.  
She'd said that she loved him and only him.  
She was just angry at him leaving.  
When he saw her tonight, he'd set things straight and he'd have her back.  
Things would go back to normal for them.  
Still, he decided to laugh at the joke that inwardly sickened him.

x.x.x.x

"Here's good Thomas!" Tallulah called, adjusting the strap on of her stilettos. "I'd really like to walk a few blocks."

Thomas shook her head, and continued to drive. "No, I don't believe I can do that Miss Tallulah."  
It was so refreshing to hear her own name, especially spoken in that Cajun drawl she knew so well, that she almost forgot about her request.  
Almost.

"But Thomas, there are people everywhere! No one will hurt me."  
"Tallulah I-"  
"Please Thomas?" She dared to puff her lips out into a perfect pout. "Please?"  
He gave a little growl, "Fine. But you walk straight on the road where I can see you, ya hear?"  
"Uh-huh!" Tallulah replied distractedly, already fumbling with the door handle.  
"Well wait until I stop the car!"  
Tallulah laughed, while Thomas brought the limo to a complete stop, got out, and opened the door for her.  
"Thank you." She breathed, "I'll walk straight there."  
He gave her a glare full of warning. "I'm going to park the car, and then I'm heading down to the canteen. If I don't see you there, I will come looking for you Miss Tallulah."  
She smiled, and smoothed down the ruffles on her short green dress. "Deal."  
He hopped back in the car, and pointed a finger at her. "Be there!"

Laughing, she waved him off as she began to walk feeling the powerful push of her legs against the tiny spike heels she wore. She strode down the sidewalk, her eyes as upwardly glued as any tourist. The sun glinted off the downtown skyscrapers, and Tallulah felt like this glare was warmer, more hopeful than in New York. She felt like she was almost beginning to get used to the spiky palms that grew like weeds around the city, and she loved the elaborate designs of the buildings. She could see the Hollywood sign far off in the distance, and the colorful rooftops peeking through the shrouding shrubbery and sunkissed treetops.  
She heard calling and commotion from the street corner by the canteen, and she stared out the women in white uniforms waving around fliers.  
She felt ridiculous in her impractically short and ruffled dress as she passed by them in their crisp, clean linen.

"Join the Nurse Core!" One of the girls called, waving her poster a little higher.  
"Shut up Kellie!" Yelled on of the girls, quickly shoving her friend's arm downwards. "That's Essie Jo Adams!"  
Tallulah gave them an awkward wave as she began walking past their booth.  
Kellie grinned and lowered her poster, but the pictures the girls had set up around the table intrigued her.  
She strode towards the table to the clamoring of the girls.

"Can we help you Miss Adams?" One of the girls offered, pushing lush brown curls out of her face.  
Tallulah said nothing while she stared at the photographs of the nurses- assisting, helping, caring.  
"Can I have one of those fliers?" Tallulah asked, glancing upwards.  
The girls looked shocked, and Kellie passed her one of the pamphlets. Tallulah took it, and placed it in her clutch purse that was encrusted in crystals. "Thank you." She told them, still studying the picture of the Nursing company.  
"You're welcome." Kellie answered, poking her friend in the side with her elbow.  
Another girl shyly pushed another flyer towards her. "Can I get your autograph? And can you write my name in there too? I'm Judy."  
Tallulah nodded, tearing her eyes away from the pictures once more. "Oh yeah, sure." She slashed her name across the flyer, before pointing to a sign up sheet. "So are you all nurses?"

"Oh yes." Judy informed her. "We're all fast track nurses, similar to VADs."  
"Yeah," Kellie interjected, "We'll all be shipping out in about a month."  
Tallulah tried to quell her perking interest, but the question slipped out anyways. "When did the program start?"  
Judy shrugged, "Oh about a week ago. We're still trying to get some recruits for the Solace."  
Tallulah's fingers scratched against the thousands of crystals that were embedded into her purse. "The Solace?"  
Kellie smiled, "It's our hospital ship. We've been assigned to, along with a few other companies."  
Tallulah nodded and watched her limousine park.  
She turned back to the girls. "Thank you ladies." She told them taking a last longing look at their white uniforms. "I appreciate your time."  
Judy gave her a wave, "We appreciate your interest. Thank you for the autograph."  
Tallulah waved off her gratitude and shot them all a final smile. "Well, thank you again."  
She trotted away from them quickly, waving at Thomas.  
They watched her disappear into the canteen, the green ruffles of her shot skirt sliding past other, duller colors.

"What the heck did she want with the nurse core?" Asked Kellie, plopping back down into a chair.  
Judy shook her head and admired her autograph, which would go nicely with the rest of her collection.  
"Dunno. But I do know that this will be perfect for my wall of signatures." Judy informed her friends, while Kit snorted.  
"Oh, right, I forgot about your wall of autographs that decorates your bedroom."  
Judy shrugged, "Hey, when in Hollywood…"

The girls were silent for a moment as they watched another group of GI's pass their tent and head straight for the line to get in the Canteen.  
Judy sighed as she watched a group of soldiers approaching- she wished she could have had a job like Essie Jo Adams.  
What did she have to do all day but sit there and look pretty?  
Kit nudged her as the group of soldiers approached. "Hey, look alive. They're coming over here."  
"Betcha twenty bucks they're coming to ask where they can find Essie Jo Adams." Grunted Kellie as she lifted another stack of fliers onto the table.

Judy flashed the soldiers on of her friendliest smiles. "I don't suppose you three want to switch professions and join the Core?"  
A marine with coppery locks that peeked out from under his cap shook his head. "No Mam. We're uh, well, we're wondering where we can find Essie Jo Adams."  
Judy was instantly charmed by the lulling drawl of his heavy, southern accent, and she found herself blushing under his gaze.  
"Pay up ladies!" Kellie hissed, twiddling her fingers as if there was cash there.  
"She'll be about two blocks down the road, at the canteen." Judy told the men, wanting the redheaded boy to open his mouth and speak again.  
She wanted to hear that seductive slur riding on his sleepy voice. "The line's out the door."  
The marine tipped his hat at her and took a quick glance at the name screed across her chest. "Thanks Miss Kipton."

She gave him a grin, and watched him walk away before calling out. "Welcome Private Sledge!"


	22. Didn't mean it

** Aliright guys, as usual thanks to all the usuals :) You know who you are. Also, I'm lazy and falling asleep and don't want to type anymore that I must lol. Anyways, I'm so glad everyone enjoyed the last chapter, and I hope everyone likes this one too. Love it or hate it drop me a line :) Reviews keep this thing going, and I just want to say thank you to Ber1719, BloodUpontheRisers and BerthaJorkins for being the best reviewers out there.  
**

"How about another shot Miss Adams?"

Tallulah pushed her sweaty blonde curls out of her face as she rose from the cabinets under the bar. She'd given up trying to remain modest in her bending down, and as tugged downwards on the ruffled of her short dress that clung to her thighs.  
She didn't know why she bothered.  
She was sure she'd flashed half the bar already.

"No problem Sarge!" Tallulah quipped helpfully, shooting him a smile that was just a little too big. She dumped some more whiskey into a shotglass, and stared at the Vodka that was hidden behind the bourbon on the third shelf. She actually felt a painful throbbing her in hands while she imagined holding the cool bottle filled with instant, liquid relief. But she sipped on her fruity little cocktail instead, feeling the sugary sweetness drip down her throat. Again, the man asked for another drink, and Tallulah refilled his glass, her eyes on the dancefloor. She watched couples twirl around and around, and brilliant flashes of color caught her eye as dress skirts flared out. Soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen all dance jived to the rhythm of the swing band that blared from the stage. Rita Hayworth was dancing with some Sailor, and Betty Grable was swaying her million dollar legs to the music.

Tallulah smiled at the otherworldly sight that lay across the bar from her. She never could have imagined seeing two of Hollywood's biggest stars a few feet from her. Hell, she could never have imagined living in Hollywood. As much as she hated Frank, she liked California better than New York. She liked the green that seemed to grow everywhere in the warm air. She liked knowing the heaving, azure ocean was just beyond the aired hills. She liked knowing that a set of desert and mountains kept her away from the rest of the eastern half of the country. She liked knowing she was somehow helping out, even if all she was doing was pouring drinks for soldiers who'd already had far too much. Another man emerged form the crowd and settled down at the bar, and Tallulah gave him a genuine smile.

"Evening Sir!" She grabbed a new glass off a rack as he pulled up a bar stool. "What would you like?"  
He pushed a picture she'd seen too many times towards her. "An autograph?"  
The photo was of her in that stupid red dress, selling champagne. Although she wanted to scowl at her pushed up breasts, and exposed legs, she smiled up at the man. "Sure." She slashed her name across the glossy surface of the picture, reminding herself to write "Essie Jo' instead of 'Tallulah.'  
She passed the picture back to him, and motioned towards the bar. "Now what can I get for you?"  
He grinned up at her, "A seat at the bar for my friend? He's dying to meet you."  
Tallulah shot a painful glace at the drunk Sergeant who was beginning to pass out on the counter.  
She shot the new man, rueful smile. "I think we can arrange that."

After a few moments the security removed the heavily intoxicated man, and Tallulah motioned towards the newly arrived Corporal.  
"Go get your friend. I'll save your seat." She waved him off and took another sip of her fruity margarita, which she still found far too sweet.  
She watched the man disappear into the crowd, and her eyes continued to stalk the dancefloor.  
The last time she'd danced, she'd been with Sidney, on that night.  
The best night of her entire life.  
The night she had recreated every other night since in her dreams.  
The scene she replayed in her mind to remind herself of his true love.  
The passionate images she let her mind play like a slideshow to reassure herself of his affection and desire.  
As his face somehow materialized in the buzzing air around the bar, she squatted down to fish for the vodka out of a cabinet. And as he fingers wrapped around the neck of the bottle, it only served to remind her of wrapping her fingers around something even more satisfying that her alcohol.  
But when the cool hardness of the glass met her fingertips it served to anchor her to the present instead of reminding her of softer flesh.  
There was a tap on the counter, and giving a little sigh Tallulah shoved her vodka back into the cabinet. She yanked down on the sticky fabric that adhered to the back of her smooth legs. She grabbed another cup before turning back around to face the bar.

She swung around his a smile on her face, a shotglass clutched in her hand, ready to greet her new customer. "I'm Essie Jo Adams, and I-"  
Her voice trailed off as she looked at the man who sat in the seat aht had once been occupied by the intoxicated Sergeant.  
He had coppery hair under his hat, and pale skin that was smoother than the glass she held. Brooding brown eyes stared out at her, and she shook her head in disbelief.  
It wasn't.  
It couldn't have been.  
But the name screen across his breast assured her worst fears, even though she'd known as soon as she'd seen those dark eyes.  
She read the name over and over, just like she'd read the words over and over the day he'd proposed to her.  
Both times she'd been reading in disbelief.

S-L-E-D-G-E.

She sorted out other names she could spell from the same combination of letters, like Ledges, of Degles, trying to convince herself that the letters on his chest were just as much an illusion as the images of Sidney's fair face. But the second he spoke, she could no longer resist reality. The slow lulls of his drawling voice send shockwaves into her, and somehow loosed the glass from her hands.  
The shot glass fell from her hands, shattered on the floor as her true name tumbled from lip's she'd known so well- lips she could have made maps of.

"Tallulah…" Her name rode on a quiet breath; so quiet it almost escaped the looks of people at the bar.  
Almost. A few men glanced at her, their faced laced with confusion as they wondered what the red-haired boy had done to draw so much of her attention. She shook off the images that had began to bombard her mind. Little mental pictures of their kisses, embraces, and their sex shot like small daggers into the folds of her consciousness.  
Quickly, Tallulah waved over another model, who trotted up to the bar.  
"Yeah what's up Essie Jo?"  
Tallulah whispered something in her ear, before striding away, a bottle of Grey Goose in her hands. The new server turned back to the awaiting customers with a smile. "Gentlemen, my name is Abby Donovan, and I'll be serving you tonight." Abby brandished a bottle of tequila from behind the counter. "And what will be your pleasure?"  
Eugene nodded at her, before rising from his bar stool and jogging after Tallulah.  
"Hey Tal, wait!"

Corporal Mueller stared back up at the pretty waitress, and shook his head. "Don't mind him Doll." He advised while raising and eyebrow towards her bottle of tequila. "He's pretty infatuated with that girl." Abby filled up his glass and nodded towards the police and bodyguards that were hovering in a dark corner.  
"Well I assure you that in a few moments security is going to be pretty obsessed with him."  
Mueller watched Eugene lung towards Tallulah, who jerked away. "I dunno how he thinks he can do those things to that girl."  
Abby pushed a few straight, dark strands of hair out of her face as she set a new plate of chips and salsa on the countertop. "Wait a moment, what was that man's name?"  
Muelle chuckled and licked some salt off the rim of his margarita glass. "Honey, I assure you- it don't matter what his name is. You're right- in about twenty seconds those bouncers will be all over him."  
Abby's gaze was demanding. "Tell me his name?"  
Confused, Mueller's eyebrows twisted. "Sledge. Eugene Sledge."  
Abby suddenly nodded, and her doe eyes grew even wider. "Her ex-fiancée."  
Mueller coughed on a bit of corn chip that had abruptly lodged in his throat. "I'm sorry what did you say?"  
Abby turned to him an impatient hand placed on her hip. "You haven't read the expose?"  
"The expose?"  
"Yeah, it's selling like hotcakes all over the country. Apparently, her manager released it. Tells all about her old love life."  
Mueller shook his head and watched as his young, rather awkward comrade placed an hand on Essie Jo Adam's arm. "You're telling me that Eugene Sledge is the fiancée off Essie Jo Adams. THE Essie Jo Adams?"  
One of Abby's dark eyebrows raised at the sound of Tallulah hissing, and the thud of footfalls hastening away.

"Was." She corrected, taking a quick sip of her own margarita "Was."

x.x.x.x

"Get away from me." Tallulah hissed, bolting out the backdoor to the Canteen.  
She jerked her arm away from him; the places where his fingers had been burned as if she had been branded.  
The imprints from his touch seared her skin like hot iron, and she cringed at the flesh-to-flesh contact.  
"Tallulah, I've got to talk to you. I ain't seen you in a whole year."  
"I ain't wanted to see you." Tallulah lied, her green eyes turning to seething, snakelike slits as she stared at him.  
"You have." His counter only served to anger her further.  
She took a deep breath and leaned against the building for support. "You've got about five minuites before someone tells security and gets out here." Tallulah warned him, her warning honest. "I suggest you bolt before then."

A stressed hand came to clamp down on his forehead. "Please, Tallulah. I've missed you so much." His voice was begging, and she fought to remain resolute.  
"Don't waste your time telling me that." She spat, as she jabbed him with her bottle of Vodka.  
He stared at her and although his hands pleaded to touch her, he kept them to himself. "How did you get here?"  
She cocked an invisibly blonde eyebrow, and ripped the cork off the vodka with her teeth, snorting. "Don't ask me that either. Don't have time to tell you."  
Eugene motioned towards the silvery bottle she clutched in her shaking hands. "Why are you doing that?"  
She took a quick sip, before answering. "You."  
His forehead crinkled into folds that expressed his pain. "Can you stop?  
"Sometimes." Tallulah admitted, as she remembered Sid's addictive touch, and his intoxicating affection. "Sometimes."  
As he stared at her- slumped against the brick, her tiny dress riding up her thighs, heels scuffed from running, eyes downcast, and a bottle of Vodka dangling from her fingertips- he'd realized he'd never seen anyone so broken.  
He stepped closer to her, only to have her sky away like some scared animal.

"Tallulah, please go home." He pleaded, as he watched her slid down into a sitting position. It was all he felt like he could ask from her.  
She stared up at him, and shook her head. "I can't Eugene. I'm making money for my family."  
"I thought we'd taken care of that?" Eugene asked confusedly.  
She shook her head again, feeling pity at his state of puzzlement. "No Eugene, when you broke off our engagement there was no reason for your family to support mine anymore. There were no marital ties, it would simply be plain charity."  
He banged his fist against the concrete. "I didn't break off our engagement."  
Tallulah stared at him, her jaw dropping and eyes flying open in pure bewilderment. "You left me a note Eugene. You left me a note telling me to find another!" Her voice was shrill, and it echoed off the wall, bouncing from building to building until the resounding shriek disappeared down the street.  
He grabbed her wrist and squeezed it as if he could push understanding into her body. "I didn't mean it!"

She pulled away from his touch, her eyes cutting to the side. "You didn't mean it?" She scoffed, the same bitter sound he'd heard when he'd spoken to her on the phone. "You didn't mean it?"  
Eugene doubted the questions were rhetorical, but simply her own angry musings as she repeated the phrase over and over trying to believe it.  
"I've lived my whole life by that note Eugene!" She screamed, unable to control the lethal combination of anger and disbelief. "My whole damn life!"  
She motioned towards the Canteen, and to her platinum hair. "I'm doing this because you said not to wait!" S  
he raised her bottle of Vodka, "I'm doing this because you said to find another!"  
Her yells were unbearable to him, and he shook his head pleadingly. "Tallulah."  
Her hands flew upwards, as if by touching the night air she might gain clarity. "So don't tell me you didn't mean it Eugene!" She wailed, "Don't tell me that all this was unnecessary!"  
"I didn't mean it."  
"What about your proposal? Did you mean that? Did you?"  
"Of course I did Tallulah! Of course I did! I loved you! I-" his voice broke as he buried his head in his hands. "I love you."

She gulped back screams and blinked away tears as the words she'd dreamed of hearing for a year finally slipped from his tight lips.  
She'd fantasized about their reunion, about his apology, and his admission of his feelings.  
But it was nothing like what she had imagined.  
In her dreams they were back on the mobile beach, toes curling in the sand, while their lips interlocked, in her hand was a small box that contained her ring.  
Instead she was sitting in a grimy, Hollywood alleyway, clutching to a bottle of vodka that was servings as her lifeline.  
Their lips had not exchanged sweet kisses, but heated, angry words.

"Well." She began finally, "I, I don't love you." Her words rang flat against what had been such an expecting silence, and Eugene felt his heart sink.  
"You don't love me?" He dared to ask.  
She shook her head. "Not anymore Eugene. I can't-"  
There was the sound of a door creaking open, and Eugene grabbed her hand. There was a conviction in his eyes she'd never seen before, except for the day he'd told her that he was heading to war.  
"Then just wait Tallulah, Just wait until the end of this. Just wait until you can love me again."  
She said nothing as she attempted to form the words mentally. She tried to piece together the prhases that would reveal that she was with Sidney.  
But nothing came.  
There were no words.  
As usual, in crucial times Tallulah had no words.  
"I don't think that time will come Eugene."

He patted her hand, and gave her the faintest of smiles. "It will." His reassurance angered her, and she felt the Vodka shaking in her hands.  
But she wouldn't let him get caught.  
With flailing hands she waved him away as the door made another sound. "Go!" She hissed, pointing him away. "Get out of here." Eugene rose and bolted off into the darkness, while the door creaked open.  
To her surprise, the voice that spoke was more familiar than the drone of the bouncers.

"Who the hell is that?" Asked John Basilone, who had by some amazing feat, arrived on the scene.  
For some reason Tallulah wasn't even surprised that he had stepped out of the door- she'd already seen enough of Hollywood to know that nothing should come as a surprise. She took a long drink of her vodka, and wiped the strident liquid off her lips before turning to John who stared out at the retreating figure.

"Oh that? That's my ex-fiancée…"

x.x.x.x

John ambled down the stairs and took a seat beside her, offering her a cigarette. "Your who?"  
"Ex-fiancée." Tallulah stated, taking the cigarette between her slender fingers.  
John whistled as she bent down and let him lit the smoke for her.  
There was silence for a moment as she sucked hard on the Lucky Strike; the repetitive motion seemed to calm her.  
She blew out a hot breath, unleashing a mouthful of smoke into the already dirty LA air, before turning towards him.

"And what brings you here?" She asked, "I suppose I should be a bit more surprised that you just walked through that door."  
John grinned, "There are no surprised in Hollywood."  
Tallulah nodded her head, and raised her bottle of Vodka. "Amen. I'll drink to that."  
John shook his head, as one of his large hands covered hers as he attempted to pry the bottle from her grip. "I wish you wouldn't."  
She glanced up at him, "Sergeant Basilone, I'm fine." He stared down at the black soot from the building that coated her slinky dress, and noted the scrapes on her bare legs. Her spike heels had broken, leaving her standing with only 3 inch heels, instead of 4.  
"Uh-huh…" he replied, completely unconvinced as he stared at the almost empty bottle in her hands.

She shook her head and let the bottle shatter to the ground.  
It broke into a million tiny shards that glittered underneath the harsh streetlight that had just flickered on.  
"Ya know I haven't done this in months." Tallulah breathed, rolling a sharp piece of glass between her fingers. "Months."  
John gave her a sympathetic nod and rose from the dirty ground. "Let me take you home." He suggested, offering her his hand.  
She took it and stood up, tottering a bit in her broken heels.  
"Thanks."  
He draped an arm around her sagging shoulders and escorted her to the limo that was awaiting him in the front.

x.x.x.x

The limousine pulled off of Sunset Boulevard and began the winding assent into Hollywood Hills.  
Tallulah smacked John's arm, as he motioned towards the neighborhood they pulled into. "The high and mighty are we?" He joked.  
She shook her head, "I don't know how this all happened. Frank put me up in this house." Grinning, he eyed her statuesque gates. "I'm sure Frank did something to put you in this house. Been making lots of money lately?"  
Tallulah laughed, "A few shoots here and there, but mostly that movie."  
The driver stopped at the front walkway, and John helped Tallulah from the limo.  
"Movie?"  
Tallulah nodded as she shouldered in the door to her home. "Yeah, it's scheduled to release this spring."  
"What's it about?"  
"Stupidity."  
John chuckled as Tallulah let him up the stairs and out onto the veranda. 'I'm sure it's going to be a blockbuster."  
Tallulah shook her head, sending her curls everywhere. "Ha! Not with me acting!"  
She took a seat on the porch swing, and John plopped down beside her.

"So how'd you know I was out there?" She asked him, her voice slipping out into the cool night air.  
He clicked his tongue before beginning. "Well, I was just showing up at the bar for a drink…"  
Tallulah held up her hands. "Wait a minuite. You're John Basilone and you go to the Hollywood Canteen? Ha, you should be working there." She motioned to his uniform. "You're as big of a celebrity as I am!"  
He snorted and shook his head. "Oh no, Tallulah. You underestimate yourself. Walk onto any army base and look in one of their bunker-" He raised a dark eyebrow. "Then you'll realize how big you are."  
Tallulah scoffed at his answer, and waved him on. "Oh go on and finish your story…"  
"Well, someone said they saw a blonde woman running out the back door with a bottle of Vodka. And well-" He ran an awkward hand through his mass of slick dark hair. "I knew it had to be you."  
She gave him a tentative smile, "Yeah, it was me all right."  
"And who was with you?"  
"My Ex-Fiancee."  
"Did you plan to meet him?"  
Tallulah let out a harsh burst of laughter. "Hell no. He just appeared. Literally out of nowhere."  
"I'm sorry."  
"Same here."

John reached for another cigarette, and Tallulah saw something on his finger glint in the moonlight.  
Quickly, she grabbed his hand and studied the band that wrapped around his ring finger.  
"You didn't tell me!" Tallulah exclaimed, her mouth dropping as she studied his wedding ring. "I didn't know you were married!"  
He smiled, and in his lips Tallulah could see the utter adoration he had for this woman, whoever she was. "A month ago." He murmured, tracing the ring. "She married me a month ago."  
Tallulah patted his hand, as she studied his distracted gaze, as his mind was obviously on his bride. "And what's her name?"  
"Lena." John breathed. "Lena Mae Riggi."  
Tallulah giggled, and her eyes flashed back to his. "Italian?"  
John winked and rubbed his stomach. "I had her lasagna before coming to the bar."  
Laughing, Tallulah threw her head back into the couch sending blonde frizz spilling onto the leather. "Well, I'm so happy for you John. How'd you meet her?"  
"Mess hall. She's a sergeant. Told me off." Tallulah's eyes widened and already she had more respect for Lena.  
"I like her." Tallulah joked, as John gave her a look.  
"Uh-huh. Of course you do."

Tallulah's eyebrows furrowed and she glanced back towards him. "So I guess you're not selling war bonds anymore?"  
John shook his head. "No. I'm training to go back to combat."  
The cigarette fell from Tallulah's fingers, and it smoldered for a moment before she remembered to stomp it out with her broken heel.  
"You're going back?" She whispered, her voice giving out. "You're going back?"  
John gnawed on his lip, which only served to exaggerate his prominent jawline. "I asked to go back before I met Lena. Now, I-I can't imagine leaving her."

Tallulah wondered if she knew what John was feeling.  
A month ago she couldn't have imagined life without Sidney.  
She glanced up out into the ebony sky where the stars glittered above the LA smog.  
Even the stars seemed closer to her than Sidney. At least she could still see the stars.

"Well I'm leaving." Tallulah announced to John, her chin rising as she made the statement.  
His head cocked to the side as he stared at her, confused by the random comment. "Leaving? Where LA?"  
She shook her head, while she passed him the nursing brochure from her purse. "Hopefully, the country."  
John's dark eyes scanned the page and when he looked up at her, she noticed the worry in his face. "So your going?" He began, "You've signed on and everything."  
Again, Tallulah shook her head. "No. Classes start tomorrow. I'm signing on if they'll take me"  
"How will you shoot the movie?"  
"Classes are at night."  
He heaved a sigh and settled back further into the swing. "And why, Tal? Why are you going out there?" He waved a finger at her own wooden band that encircled her right ring finger. "Are you going out there to find that boy?"

She glared at him for knowing so much, instinctively knowing what a driving force behind her career change could have been.  
"I-I don't know." Tallulah stammered, trying to separate all the reasons she wanted to join the Core.  
It seemed an impossible task. All her motives joined into one overpowering desire to join the core, and board the Solace.  
"No. I'm not going for the boy." She told him, her eyes begging for his belief. "I'm not going just for him." She paused and began holding up fingers to count off each incentive. "I'm going because I can't model anymore! I can't sit and pose for a magazine selling champagne or diamonds. And I can't sit in a bikini for Yank anymore. It's not helping anyone. I haven't saved anyone's life by taking one of those pictures."

She stopped and quickly shoved a new cigarette between her lips, as if she were refueling.  
After a few drags, she plucked it from her mouth and began again.  
"And I'm tired of being three people John. It's elfish I know, but I'm tired of being three people. Do you know that when I shoot for the movie, everyone calls me 'Essie Jo?' No one knows my real name, they think…" Her voice trailed off and John saw sheer horror in her widened blue eyes.  
"They think I am Essie Jo!"  
He'd never realized before the distance she tried to keep between herself and her persona. And he'd never realized how devastating confusion between the two truly was to her.

"They don't know any better." He soothed, taking her hand. "They don't know you."  
She nodded, and her eyebrows bent in sorrow. "You see? That's exactly right. They don't know me! Not many people know me John. I'm tired of being Essie Jo Adams, and I'm tired of being Helen!"  
Her exclamation left him nodding, wondering what it would be like to juggle so many personas. "I know it must be hard. But you- you're so good at what you do."  
"I can be better at this. I will be better at this. Even mediocrity there, as a nurse, will buy someone somewhere more time. All my pictures do is help with jacking-off."  
John gave her a sly smile. "But they do help…"  
She slapped his arm and screamed at him. "John!"

Chuckling, he passed her back her brochure, which she carefully folded and placed back in her purse. "Then go." He murmured, a sudden burning intensity igniting in his eyes. "If you feel like you have to go- then you go…"  
"I've needed to go for such a long time." She whispered back, twiddling the cigarette between her thumbs. "This is what I'm supposed to do."  
"Then do it. Then go."  
"I will."  
He glanced at the clock, and slowly rose from the swing. "I've got to go Tallulah, I promised Lena I'd be home by one."  
Tallulah hopped up, and wrapped her arms around him. "Thank you John. Thank you for everything."  
His mouth twisted to the side in a quizzical smile. "Everything?"  
"Yeah, from the first day I met you at that stupid swimsuit shoot. Thank you for always understanding me."

For some reason, Tallulah felt a supreme sadness wash over her as she released her grip on his strong shoulders and stepped away.  
He tousled her curls and shook his head. "Aw, don't say it like that Tallulah. Sounds like you're saying goodbye to me!"  
Her blue eyes were honest as she took a step back. "I am. I'm saying goodbye John." Although her teeth showed through her smile it was dulled by a certain melancholy in her eyes. "And I'm saying thank you."  
He nodded toward her, in a gesture of respectful farewell. "And I'm saying, that if there's something you have to do- if there's something that every part of you, your soul your body, your mind tells you to do. Then you do it. You can't ignore that calling, so you go and you do it, and you try to ignore the though of the consequences."  
"Thank you John."  
He gave her a small wave, and a large smile accompanied it. "Well, I hope that when I get shot to pieces that I look up and see you there. I hope you take my hand, and in that sweet little accent of yours say 'John, everything will be okay."  
Giggling, Tallulah rolled her eyes. "Oh sure John. Just like my movie."  
"Just like your movie."

He disappeared into the shadows of her bedroom, and she only knew he was gone when she saw his limo speed out the driveway. She watched the headlights of his car fade away into the distance and become scattered through the brush and trees.  
When she was sure he was gone, she strode off the porch and back into the house. 


	23. Gemini

**Alright guys. Whoo, do we have some stuff to go over :) As some of ya'll know I post as I go along, so in between chapters I'm writing the next update. This method kinda sucks because if I have a plot change, or sudden inspiration, I have to subject ya'll to it. Anyways, I had one of those moments when i was writing this weekend. The story is still the same, and really hasn't changed that much. I finally figured out where I ultimately want to take it, and therefore, as much as I hate it, I need to change the title. Also, I forgot to correct this when I posted the chapters where Tallulah is home. She and Teola are twins, it was something so obvious to me when I was writing, but I somehow never mentioned it o.O So ya'll just keep that in mind. It's super important when writing this chapter, which I had planned out already. **  
**Anyways, hope none of this has been too earth shattering lol. And I hope that everyone continues sticks with the story! Really, ya'll are just the best reviewers/commentators ever. :) **  
**Alright, enjoy.**

"Alright Essie Jo!" Called Howard from his director's seat. "That was pretty good. But give it to me once more time, with just a bit more emotion." Humphrey chuckled as Tallulah snarled and flicked dark strands out of her eyes.  
"Just act you like you like me babe." He advised, placing his hands on his hips.  
She gave him a tired smile, "I like you fine…" She admitted, japing a thumb towards Howard. "I just hate him."  
The movie star laughed again, and leaned in to whisper in her ear. "Everyone hates him. One of the most feared directors in Hollywood."  
"Hey, Essie Jo? Sometime today? I've got to fit Bacall in here too!"

Rolling her eyes Tallulah turned back to Humphrey, while she ran through the line in her head.  
When she heard Howard scream 'action,' she let her mouth fall open in fake surprise.  
"You don't love me?" She whispered, feeling the wind that came from the turbo fans jet blowing through her brown wig.  
He shook his head and stared down at her with sorrowful eyes. "I don't love you Helene."  
She stopped her foot, and stepped away from him. "Then you do you love?"  
"Marie."  
Tallulah tried to pretend that the name meant something to her.  
She tried to inject herself with that stinging anger she would feel if Sid told her that he loved another.  
She would have loved to have some IV of emotion that allowed her to deliver lines with real feeling.  
She wasn't sure if she was successful, but the line did come out.  
"And Marie does not love you."

"Cut!" Howard yelled before rising from his chair. "That was good Essie Jo. Strong performance today."  
Humphrey patted her on the back as she ripped off the brown wig. "Thanks." She said flatly, running her fingers through her sweaty blonde curls.  
"Just be here tomorrow for the promo shoot. It's at eight because we want to get the light on the beach just right."  
"Yeah. I'll be there."  
Howard swiveled in his chair and took a sweeping gaze of the set. "Dammit where's Lauren? Has anyone seen Lauren? I swear to God, this is the last week of shooting this damn movie and the girl still can't be on time. I pity whoever has to work with her next."  
Tallulah shook her head, while she saw Humphrey plaster a hand to his forehead.  
Quietly, she retrieved her purse and slipped the brown wig into her bag. She zipped it shut and trotted out towards the limo where Thomas was waiting.  
x.x.x.x

"Oh shut up!" Tallulah growled, stumbling through the door to the Red Cross, while attempting to remove her wig. "You know I have to do this for 'privacy purposes.'"  
Kellie giggled, and touched her own brown locks. "Nah, I think you just enjoy being a brunette."  
Tallulah gave her a little smack on the arm, while the Matron counted heads for the night's classes.  
Judy Kipton burst through the door, nodding to Matron. "Sorry I'm late. You wouldn't believe traffic."  
Matron motioned towards the tables, and the girls all took seats at their desks.  
Some of the girls were reaching under their desks for their books, but Tallulah sensed the lecture matron was about to give then was not something one could find in a textbook.

"Ladies, books down please." Demanded Matron Stratton, as she took her place towards the front of the room. "We've got some things to discuss."  
There were a few whispers among the girls, but Kellie and Tallulah stayed silent in their seats.  
"As you know very well, you all are shipping out in one week." Matron gave them a small smile. "Which means I've only had three weeks to make nurses of you all." There was a small round of laughter but it soon died as Matron continued.  
"This Thursday, we'll be driving up to San Francisco, where the Solace is now docked. So Wednesday night, say your goodbyes and pack up your three uniforms and meet me here for the drive up. "Everyone got that?"  
There were nods and again excited whispers arose.  
She turned to Tallulah, who began to feel like she was being targeted.  
"Tallulah, that morning I'd advise you to wear your wig again. I don't think that anyone will get smart now, after you've been attending classes for the last three weeks and haven't been hunted down. But then again, this is Hollywood."  
Tallulah gave her a wry smile. "Yes 'Mam. I'll wear the wig."

"And also. We've got the Navy secretaries to put you down under a non-de-plume, and as of this moment, your name in the Navy is Cassidy Ruppe." Tallulah nodded again, cringing at the fact that she would have to carry around yet another persona.  
She'd hoped to go as herself, but realized quickly that her tenure with the Navy would have been turned into a publicity stunt.  
"Yes 'Mam."  
Matron gave her a smile. "Essie- I mean Tallulah, we really appreciate you joining up."  
"It's my pleasure to try and serve."  
Judy nodded in enthusiastic concurrence. "Really, we wouldn't have been able to activate this company without you."  
Tallulah's eyes grew wide, and she glanced towards Matron for reassurance. "Really? You- didn't have enough people?"  
Matron nodded, "Why else do you think that we jumped through all these hoops to keep your attendance here a secret? You're our 466th girl. The Solace always sails at capacity because some nurses get dropped off at other ports and such. The Solace won't sail without 466, and you make 466."  
Kellie clapped her hands together and patted Tallulah on the back. "466!" She chanted, "That's what I'm calling you from now on." Tallulah grinned and flashed Kellie a smile. "466." She repeated, "Alright."  
The Matron waved her hands towards Tallulah, "Alright then 466! Why don't you come up to the front of the room and demonstrate how to properly use the direct transfer syringe for an emergency transfusion?"  
Tallulah jumped up from her seat. "Yes Mam!"

She darted to the front of the classroom and grabbed the hellish looking instrument from the table. It was essentially a glass container with two rubber tubes on each side that could be inserted intravenously through a two large needles. The device allowed for an immediate transfer of blood from one patient to the other. Tallulah grabbed one of the needled tubes and inserted it into a dummy's arm, before sticking the other end into another plastic forearm. Obviously, no blood flowed from one dummy to another, but Tallulah could picture the holding container filling with the viscous red substance, as by blood, life was literally transferred from one man to another.

Matron nodded at her work, and turned to the class. "And when should this instrument be used?"  
"An emergency!" Yelled the class in unison as Tallulah took her seat.  
"Nice job 466." Joked Matron, although she was seriously about Tallulah's handiwork.  
Grinning, Tallulah slid back into her chair and watched as Matron began reviewing blood pressure once more.

x.x.x.x

The sun was hot and little Tallulah pulled up the skirt of her dress to wipe her face.  
"See your panties!" Chanted her twin Teola, who gave her sister a devilish smile. "I see London, I see France, I see Tallulah's underpants!"  
"I don't care." Muttered Tallulah as she sat down on a splintery step, feeling the rough, sizzling wood grate against the soft skin of her thighs. Teola sat down beside her sister, her other half, and fingered the head of a rusty nail. "I'mma be seven years old tomorrow." Teola noted, staring up at her sister. "Seven. And we ain't having no party."  
Tallulah gave a little snort, and wriggled her toes in the sand below the rough stair. "Yeah, well I'mma be seven years old too. And I'mma be seven before you."  
Teola heaved a sigh, and dropped her head to hang between her knees. "I don't care that your gonna be seven, three minutes before me. I wanted a party."

"Can't have a party no more." Answered Tallulah, feeling infinitely wiser and more elder than her sister.  
She thought they should have been separated by three years instead of just three minutes. "Ain't got money no more."  
Teola stomped her foot in the dust, sending glittering grey particles up into the hot air. "Why?"  
That was something Tallulah didn't understand either. She glanced back at her twin, and shrugged. "Dunno. Bank took something or another."  
Both girls instantly glanced towards the field when they heard a loud cuss, and the banging of metal on metal. Their father was attempting to fix the old truck, the truck that could never be fixed.

"Why's he doing that?" Grumbled Tallulah, who didn't like the racket he was making. She stared up at her sister for an answer, and noticed she could see her own identical reflection in Teola's eyes. It was like staring straight into opposing mirrors, and seeing an infinite line of yourself that went on forever. There was no difference in her reflection, and her sister's actual appearance. The girl she saw in her sister's eyes, was the same girl that her sister actually was.

"What are you looking at?" Teola asked, frowning a little at how furrowed Tallulah's gingery eyebrows were.  
"Me." Tallulah answered, staring straight at Teola's curly red hair, unnerving emerald eyes, and tanned, freckled skin. "Looking at me."  
"But you're looking at me." Mused Teola, pointing to herself. "You're staring at me.  
"But I'm seeing me. We look the same, ya know?"  
"It's cause we're twins, stupid. Remember? Like Gemini?"  
Tallulah snorted while Teola picked at a green briar that has spun it's way around the railing.  
"Nah, you're my best friend." Admitted Teola as she plucked a sharp thorn from the winding plant.  
Tallulah eyed the thorn held in between her sister's fingers. "Let's be blood sisters." She suggested, snatching the briar from Teola's hands. "For our 7th birthday, let's promise to always be blood sisters."  
"We already are sisters!" Teola protested, not wanting to prick herself with the sharp thorn. "We're twins."  
"By blood." Tallulah reminded her, "By blood we couldn't change. Cause of our mamma. We didn't have no control over having the same mamma."  
"You're sayin' you want something intentional. You wanna be my sister on purpose?"

Tallulah nodded, and stuck out her index finger, while grabbing the thorn in the other hand. "Yeah. By my blood, and by yours, I wanna be your sister forever and ever. On purpose." She stabbed herself with the small thorn, and drug it through her fingertip, watching the red line to appear.  
"Is that the promise?" Teola asked, eying her sister warily. "Is it gonna work? Are those the right words?"  
"Yeah." Tallulah lied, "That's what everyone says when they become blood sisters."  
She passed Teola the thorn, and quickly Teola slit her finger with the thorn, wincing as she did so. Ceremoniously, the girls exchanged a look of complete seriousness, as they pressed their bleeding fingertips together.  
The red liquid mingled, and slid down both their hands. Tallulah could no longer tell, whose blood was whose, although really, they had the same blood anyways. Then, they chanted Tallulah's words in unison. "By my blood and yours I wanna be your sister forever and ever. On purpose."  
With the deed done, each pulled their finger away.  
Teola whimpered and sucked on hers, while Tallulah admired the color of the red rivulets that dripped down the sides of hand.

Teola glanced up at her, and her orange eyebrows hunkered down into her face. "Are you sure them's the right words?"

x.x.x.x

Sid pushed his feet back down into the muddy silt that lay at the bottom of the swampy creek. The breeze today was lazy, and barely whispered through the tall palmettos that guarded that muddy little brook from sight. Even the brownish water was lazy. This creek was nothing like the pristine rushing streams he'd seen in his picturebooks of Yosemite or Yellowstone park. This creek was the color of mud, not crystalline. The water didn't gush. It barely moved. The creek was so wide it was practically a stagnant pool. Leggy waterbugs skittered around on its still surface, looking like black blossoms. Tired of slogging though the swampy stream, Sid held up his bucket.

"We ain't catching no crawdads!" He protested, as Eugene turned to face him. "Might as well go home."  
Eugene shook his head, and held up his own well-worn bucket. "Yeah we are. I caught one!"  
Snorting, Sid plopped down onto a muddy bank, dropping his bucket as he took a seat. "Well I'm done hunting crawdaddys. I'm ready to go get some ice-cream with your daddy."  
Eugene took a reluctant seat next to him, and watched the crawfish in his bucket scamper around. "I'm not."

Sid stared at his friend, whose face held a healthy flush for the first time in a month.  
Eugene had been sick again, and had been confined to his house for the past month by Dr. McDavis.  
Sid hated that man. And his shots. He'd never be a doctor. Ever.  
Eugene didn't want to call it a day so early, not after he'd just been released.  
Sid reclined back into the back and swatted at a few mosquitoes that had descended on his arm.  
"Alright. We'll get a few more crawdads. Then, we're a-going home."  
He couldn't ruin his friend's first day back in the land of the living. Even if the fishing was crappy.  
Eugene gave him a grin, and laid back with him. "Okay then Sid. I'll wait on you."  
He laughed, and Sid looked up at his confusedly. "Huh? What's so funny?"  
"I says I'd wait on ya. And you is the one that's always waiting on me, cause I'm sick or tired."  
"Oh." Sid's answer was tired, uncaring, as if all he watched to do was sleep despite the strangling humidity and mosquitoes.  
But his friend's next statement jerked him into alertness, and sent his shooting up from his supine position.

"You know I'm going to die before you."  
Sid looked up from swiping mosquitoes off his tanned skin. "What?"  
"I'm going to die before you."  
"Awh, that's crazy talk. I think the sun's a-getting to ya."  
Eugene placed a hand over his heart, and his sullen eyes stared out at his fair friend. "It ain't no good. They told me and mama and daddy the other day. Said it's got murmurs, that probably ain't ever gonna go away."  
Concern flooded Sid's cornflower eyes. "Don't mean your dying before me stupid."  
"Probably means that."

The two boys stared at the standstill water, the subject of death hanging heavier in the air that the suffocating humidity.  
"Don't mean nothing." Sid assured his friend finally, pointing to his own chest. "I'm allergic to Penicillin."  
Eugene was silent for a moment as he fingered the handle of his bucket.  
"I want you to have my gun and my fishing poles."  
Again, Sid was surprised my his friend's concentration on the uncomfortable subject, so much so that he almost wanted to suggest fishing again.  
He wasn't sure why Eugene was sticking with it so doggedly.  
"I can't have those Gene." He admitted, "Gotta give them things to your brother."  
"I wanna give 'em to you."  
"You should give em to Edward."

Quickly, Eugene grabbed a blade of sawgrass. "Then let's be brothers. Let's make ourselves real brothers."  
Sid's forehead crinkled as he watched Eugene examine the sawgrass for a sharp edge. "You mean blood brothers?"  
"Uh-huh."  
"Alright."  
Eugene flipped over the blade of grass and ran it across his finger, wincing as he did so.  
He handed the sawgrass to Sidney, who did the same. Sid spat out a little curse as he drug the verdant blade across his finger.  
He tossed the grass down into the creek, and Eugene held out his finger.

"What now?" Sid asked, watching the blood bubble up from his fingertip. "We supposed to say anything?"  
Eugene nodded, as he pressed his finger to Sid's, watching their blood mingle into one red liquid. "Yeah, I think we just say, 'brothers by blood.'"  
Sid nodded, and pressed his finger a little harder to his friend's. "Brothers by blood."  
"Brothers by blood." Repeated Eugene. They let their fingers slide away, and Eugene lay back into the bank, a content smile on his face.  
Sid folded his arms behind his head and stared up into the palm fronds that shrouded the sun.

"You sure them's the right words?" He asked Eugene, who gave no reply. "You sure?"  
x.x.x.x

Tallulah tossed two of her nursing uniforms into her small suitcase the Navy had provided. She'd just returned from her classes, and had been inspired to pack by Matron who had reminded the girls that they left for San Fransisco in less than two days.  
She was just showing another set of little white heels into her suitcase when the phone went off. Frowning, she tripped over a few other pairs of shoes that littered her floor before grabbing the receiver and answering it breathlessly.

"Hello?"  
A cold monotone answered her, and it's coolness annoyed her. "Essie Jo, I've been meaning to call you."  
Her answer was the same as it always was when he called her. "What do you want Frank?"  
He clreaed his throat, "I was going to ask you the same thing..."  
Tallulah noticed that her foot was tapping against the hardwood floor, a physical signal of her impatience.  
She didn't have time for his little mind games.

"I mean don't you enjoy living in this Hills mansion? Don't you like your dresses? And your little convertible? How about your family living in a real house for once? One where the roof doesn't leak, and the power actually works. How do you like that?"  
She could hear a growl arising in her throat, and it was nothing like the sinful purr she often gave when Sid's sly fingers migrated to places they shouldn't.  
It was an angry growl.

"What the fuck do you want Frank? What is this about?"  
"Again with the innocence!" Complained her manager, "You know what this is about. Your stupid nursing stint!"  
Her foot suddenly became still as the conversation went silent, and the line practically crackled with tension.  
Anger electrified the air, as Tallulah nails scratched against the phone. For a moment there was no speech.  
She considered hanging up, but decided against it. He'd only call back later.  
When she finally found some words, they rode out on an insolent breath that burst from her lips, like a smoking bullet.

"You can't stop me."  
"Oh believe me I can."  
"How?"  
"You know that house you bought your parents?"  
"You wouldn't?"  
"The deed went under Essie Jo Adams, and in the fine print of Esquire's contracted models, is a little statement, that reads something like this…" He cleared his throat again, while Tallulah grasped to her bedrail for support. "Models under the contract of Esquire, can hold property and monies under their non-de-plumes. However, this property is revocable by esquire if the model breaks contract before the time of the contract expiration."  
Tallulah took short, rapid breaths and she shut her eyes in defeat.

"Why would you do that to me?" She asked, her voice naked and stripped of anger, a supreme emotion of sadness seeping through.  
"Tallulah, I can't loose Essie Jo Adams."  
She was surprised that he used her first name. Never, since their very first meeting had he addressed her as Tallulah.  
"I can't loose Essie Jo. You- uh, she, is my highest grossing model. Tallulah if you have any idea how much money your making for this company, you certainly don't show it."  
"Money doesn't matter to me Frank. You want all my money? Take it. I'm leaving."  
"You can't leave Tallulah. You can't just abandon Essie Jo."  
"Fucking watch me. She's dead to me. She's dead. I was never her Frank. I am not her."  
"Do you know how much controversy that would spark? Everyone would want to know where Essie Jo has gone."  
"Kill her, say she's pregnant, say she's taking a break. Say she's missing. I don't care what you do to her. I'm leaving."  
Franks voice hardened again. "You can't leave here Tallulah. I'll take your family's house."

Tallulah's mind was processing at full speed as she took in his words, and her options.  
She couldn't do that to her family.  
She hadn't spoken to anyone but Teola since that night, and probably wouldn't speak to them for a while longer.  
But she wouldn't do that to her family. She sat there in silence, fiddling with the curly phone cord, until the answer came to her.  
She gave a heavy sigh and whispered her answer into the phone. "Fine. I'll stay."  
Frank gave a breath of relief, "Thank you Tallulah. This is the right decision."  
"Yes. I'm sure it is."  
"By the way, there is a nice check headed your way for the expose."  
Eyebrows furrowing, she leaned into the receiver clutching it in a death grip. "Expose?"  
"Yes, last month I authorized the Scene to release some information that they'd complied on you. It's been an off the charts sell. I suppose you can thank your ex-fiancee for that."  
Tallulah found herself heaving, gasping for breath as desperately as when Sidney had strangled her.  
"You didn't."  
"How else do you think I put you up in that house?"  
"Fuck you."  
"Calm down Miss Adams. It's alright. It's selling like hotcakes." She heard paper rustle in the background, and he spoke again. "Oh, yes. Photoshoot on Friday, it's for Yank."  
"Fine!" She yelled, slamming down the phone, in a feeble attempt to keep her composure.

She let out a few ragged breathes before picking up the phone again. She dialed her house, and prayed to her Teola's voice on the other end. She needed to talk to her twin.  
x.x.x.x

"So you understand where I'm coming from?" Tallulah asked, as she lay on her bed. "You get this?"

Teola's voice was somewhat comforting, but her answer was even more reassuring. "Yeah I get it."  
"So my question to you is?" Tallulah paused for a moment as she tried to think oh how to phrase the proposition. "Do you want to be Essie Jo Adams?"  
She could hear her sister take a sharp inhalation of air, which rose high above the sound of southern cicadas chirping in the distance.  
Tallulah watched the clock in her bedroom, and counted down the seconds. When the hand struck fifty-four, she could hear the popping of Teola's mouth as it opened.

"You mean do I want to come to California, and take over modeling while you sneak out onto a hospital ship?"  
Actually hearing the plan in words spoken by someone other than herself, Tallulah though it sounded ridiculous. But it was her only plan.  
"Yeah." She admitted, "That's what I'm askin.'"  
Another long silence followed before Teola finally whispered her answer. "Yes."  
Tallulah pumped a fist in the air, and listened to Teola's giggles on the other end.  
"There's gonna be a plane landing in Mobile in about four hours." Tallulah told her, "Be ready to get on it."  
"And what should I tell mom and dad?"  
"Tell 'em that your joining the core."  
"But you're joining the core."

Tallulah gave a heavy sigh, and laid her head back onto her soft pillow. "That's the point Teo. You're me now, and I'm going to be you."  
She could hear Teola give a little whimper at the complexity of the situation, but soon her voice returned, excited.  
"You're gonna put me on a plane?" Her question was full of wonder. "I never been on a plane before.  
"Uh-huh." Tallulah answered, distracted by the details of her plan.  
She'd figure them out while Tallulah was on her way.  
"Well I'm excited Tallulah. This is the craziest thing we've ever done together."  
She could hear her sister wrapping up the conversation, with her goodbyes but quickly she interjected.  
"Hey, Teola. Make sure you bring me some of that red hair dye? Alright?  
"You got it. Really red? Like the way my hair is now?"  
Tallulah nodded and stared out at the illuminated Hollywood sign while she fingered her platinum curls.

"Yeah." She whispered. "Blood red."


	24. Stark Raving Mad

**First things first! Thanks to my amazing reviewers Ber1719, BloodUpontheRisers, and Bertha Jorkins. I'm so glad ya'll accepted, and even, liked the changes I had to make to the story. Really, it was so comforting to hear that. Thanks to each of you for your review, I love getting your comments!  
On another note, school has been totally hellish and so I've been kinda a weekend warrior in the writing department. I've been completely uninspired lately, for some reason or another, and although this is such an important chaper, I don't feel like I've done it any justice. So ya'll let me know! I hope everything is going well for everyone :)  
-Ellie Mayy**

Through the blackened windows of her limo, Tallulah watched her sister trot down the steps of the plane. The lights of the private runways illuminated her straight hair, and her blowing crimson strands looked bright against the darkness. She held nothing in her hand but a purse, and bottle of red hairdye. The flight attendant helped her down from the plane, as if she was some up and coming celebrity.  
Thomas yawned and turned to Tallulah. "She looks like you." He murmured, as he placed a hand on the wheel. "Your sister looks like you."  
Tallulah watched his dark hand curl around the wheel and practically blend in with the black leather.  
"We're twins." She told him, "I'm three minutes older."  
He gave a warm, loving chuckle, the kind that could have heated an entire room in one burst of laughter. "Making sure I know? Huh Missy Tal?"

She nodded, and watched her sister glance around, her eyes as wide as those of a dear in headlights.  
Finally, she spun and approached the car. Thomas got out to place her suitcase in the trunk, and she gushed her thanks as he opened the door.  
"Oh my lord, Tal!" She exclaimed as she slid into her seat, "I can't believe I'm here."  
Tallulah shook herself awake again, having momentarily dozed off with her cheek pressed against the cool window.  
"Hey Teo…" She mumbled, as she tried to rub the sleep from her eyes. "Glad you could make it."  
Teola rolled her eyes and ran her hands over the polished wooden doorhandles of the car. "Oh my goodness, Tallulah, I'm riding in a limo. I'm riding in your limo!"  
Tallulah shook her head, and watched teola trace the fine stitching of the supple leather seats. "It's your limo now."  
Teola could do nothing but give a huge smile of wonder, astonishment lighting up her green eyes. "Oh, I just can't believe it."  
Snorting, Tallulah slumped down in her seat, twisted around, and placed her feet up on the window to admire her pedicure.  
"Geez. Wait until you see your house."

Teola squealed with excitement as Thomas continued to drive, and the Hollywood sign became visible in the distance.  
She marvelled at the skyscrapers, fancy cars and exotic foliage of the city, calling each subject of interest to her sister's attention- as if Tallulah had never seen it before.  
When they finally pulled up into the Hills, she marveled at the sprawling houses and gasped when Thomas turned the car into a gated driveway.  
"This is yours?" She whispered, her voice giving way in surprise.  
Tallulah shook her head, "Nope. Again, Teo. This?" She waved her hands to signal the entirety of the property. "This is yours..."  
Thomas parked and let the girls out, and Tallulah led Teola into the house.

In the next half hour that ensued, Tallulah didn't know if she'd heard more squealing, screaming, gasping or gawking.  
Her sister was continuously amazed with each detail of the house and each detail of the property.  
After what felt like an eternity to Tallulah, she was finally able to plop on her bed and Teola sat down next to her.  
"So what's your plan?" Teola asked, grabbing a pillow and clutching it to her chest while she waved her feet in the air. "You're taking off tomorrow night?"  
"Yeah." Replied Tallulah, staring at her sister's emerald eyes that looked so much like her own. "I'm leaving tomorrow night."  
"So we don't have long…"  
"Nope. I've only got a few hours to teach you how to become Essie Jo."  
"Oh, I'm sure your manager will help me."

Tallulah jerked up from reclining against her mound of decorative pillows. Her mouth dropped open and she felt her heart pounding in her chest.  
Her eyebrows shot upwards, while her eyes grew wide in the dim light of her bedroom.  
"Oh no Teola." She corrected her sister. "We're not just hiding this from mom and dad. We're hiding this from everyone. Especially my manager."  
She placed a hand on her sisters back, "This is between you and me."  
Teola's expression morphed into the same one that her sister had been wearing for a few moments. "You mean. It's a complete secret? We'll be the only ones that know?"  
Tallulah nodded, comparing her sister's features to her own reflection in Teola's verdant irises.  
She wanted to know just how identical they truly were.  
She didn't want to be able to differentiate between her reflection and her sisters.  
She wanted her plan to be foolproof, and only their complete sameness would ensure that.  
Finally, she looked up from her sister, satisfied that they could be interchangeable.

"Yeah." She answered, her voice ringing clear with finality. "We'll be the only ones that know."  
Teola's eyes held some glimmer of excitement. "Ok. So you'll have to teach me how to be Essie Jo."  
Tallulah gave a groan, and pointed to the bottle of red dye that sat on the dresser. "First things first. Can I at least be a redhead again?"  
Jumping up from the bed Teola giggled and snagged the dye from the shelf. "Of course. Let's get to it! Are you ready to revert back to your red roots?"  
Tallulah drug her fingernails through the top of her head, which had already begun sprouting her natural red curls.  
It had been too long since her last dye job.  
"So ready."

x.x.x.x

Colorful maroon and gold liquid spilled out of the porcelain tub in telltale trails to the sisters whose hair had changed to the respective color.  
After the twins had successfully unleashed volumes of ammonia vapors into the air, Teola and Tallulah dared to stare at their altered reflections in the steamed up mirror.  
Teola gasped at her newly bleached locks, and Tallulah smiled at her fiery curls and eyebrows, which had now reverted back to her natural red shade.  
She ran a hand over her slender, auburn eyebrows, admiring the fact that she could actually see them.  
No longer did they blend in with her pale skin like little arches of golden dust, they stood out like searing flames against her fair complexion.  
She looked like she used to.  
Back when she still lived in Alabama.  
Back when she still lived at home.  
Back when had looked identical to her sister.  
Back when Eugene had loved her.  
Tallulah grinned at her hair and. Her sister held a hand over her agape mouth as she fingered her blonde locks, and admired the platinum shade.  
When she turned to Tallulah, she shook her head in astonishment.

"I'm you!" She breathed, breaking out into a smile. "I'm you! And you're- you're me!"  
Tallulah pulled out a cigarette, and lit is as quickly as she corrected her sister. "No, you're Essie Jo. Not me. She and I are not the same person."  
She continued to gaze at her own reflection in the mirror. And although she was immediately reminded of Teola's recent appearance, she knew at one time- she'd looked like that too.  
"And I'm not you." She rasped, sucking hard on her cigarette. "I'm me."  
There was fierceness in her sister's gaze Teola had never noticed before. She held up her hands. "I just mean, I look like you!" Teola noted. "That's all."  
Tallulah nodded, and took a deep exhale, sending smoke shooting from her nostrils. "You look like Essie Jo."  
Teola rolled her eyes and continued to admire her reflection in the mirror.  
Tallulah held out a cigarette, but Teola shook her head, declining.  
"Mistake number one…" Tallulah noted with amusement, raising a newly reddened eyebrow. "Essie Jo Adams smokes. Essie Jo Adams drinks. And Essie Jo Adams hates most everything."  
Teola reached up and quickly plucked the cigarette from between her sisters parted lips, and tossed it into the sink.  
"Nuh-uh Tal. You drink. You smoke. And you hate everything."  
Tallulah watched the cigarette smolder in the sink, and leaving a black ring of ash where it had been tossed.  
"Bitch."  
Teola flashed her sister a dazzling smile, and did a little curtsy. "At your service…"  
Smacking her sister on the butt, Tallulah squealed and then darted off into her bedroom, Teola hot on her heels.

x.x.x.x

"So like this then?" Teola asked, flashing Tallulah a smile over her slender shoulder. "This is the way?"  
Tallulah nodded from the bed, where she laid contentedly taking lazy drags on her cigarette. "Yeah, that's about it. Cock your shoulder up though when you finish. Pop it up and shoot me another quick grin."  
Teola let her right shoulder shoot up, and beamed a grin at her sister. "How's this?" She asked through clenched teeth, the words sliding through as a harsh exhale.  
Tallulah nodded, gnawing on the end of her smoke. "Yeah that's good. Real nice."  
Giggling, Teola clapped her hands in excitement, but Tallulah quickly held up a restraining hand. "Nope!" She corrected, gripping her cigarette between two fingers that were actually calloused from doing so. "What doesn't Essie Jo do?"  
Teola smacked herself in the forehead. "Dammit. She doesn't get happy. Not that happy."  
Tallulah grinned. "Yep. You're doing good."  
Teola practiced her big smile in the mirror again, but turned away discouraged. "I'm no good Tal. I ain't never gonna be a model like you."

Tallulah snorted, and watched her sister strut down the hallway her legs confidently taking large strides.  
"You'll be ten times the model I was." She admitted, accessing the poised walk her sister already possessed. She'd had to be taught the same confidence that her sister already had. She had to be taught to strut like that. But Teola was natural.  
"I doubt it!" Teola called, pausing at the end of the hallway to strike a pose. "I still don't think I'm doing it right."  
"You're doing better than I was!" Tallulah encouraged, pushing herself up from the bed. She strode down the hallway towards her sister, the constant cigarette still dangling from between her lips. When she reached Teola she turned, glanced over her shoulder, placed a hand on her hip, and thrust her hips to one side. "Toss one of them hips out!" Tallulah commanded, smacking Teola's curves. "Pop one out to the side!"  
Teola shifted her wait, and placed her hip out to the side, elongating it's curve.  
"Yep!" Tallulah noted, as she plodded back to her bed, in no way attempting to keep up her runway strut. "You've got it."

Teola tore her eyes away from the mirror and her studies, and plopped back down on the bed with Tallulah.  
"How's Sidney?"  
The question served to shatter the calm that her sister's presence and the tobacco smoke had brought to the room. She hadn't thought about him in a while, or at least, a few hours.  
His image was a searing brand pressed into her brain. It hurt too much to think about him.  
"I don't know." She admitted, her eyes darting to the drawer that held his latest letter. "I haven't heard from him in weeks."  
Teola sighed and wrapped her arms around a fluffy pillow. "I miss Tom."  
Tallulah wasn't sure what to say to her sister. She'd always gone from boy to boy easily, effortlessly. Teola passed in and out of relationships quickly, and Tallulah wondered if Tom would be any different. She wondered if some young actor, or marine would sweep her sister off her feet. As she glanced at her sister's face, she concluded that Tom would be out as fast as the evening dress she'd worn to the awards gala yesterday was.  
But she offered her apologies anyways. "I'm sorry."  
Teola shrugged and toyed with the pack of cigarettes that lay on the bed. "It's okay. I'm sure he's doing fine too. He shipped off a few days after Sidney left."

Tallulah watched her sister's fingers trace the edges of the cigarette carton, running wistfully across the package.  
It was as if she were blind, and saw only with her touch.  
"Does it help?" She asked, her voice sliding into a low pitch. "Does the smoking and drinking help?"  
Tallulah found no reason to be dishonest with her sister. So she gave her the same answer she'd given Eugene that night they'd met on the dirty street.  
"Sometimes."  
Daringly, Teola's fingers stroked the flap of the carton that served as the opening. Tallulah wondered if she could spy the addiction with her 'seeing' fingers.  
And if she couldn't see it- she wondered if she could smell it.  
Her entire home smelled of addiction.

"Don't do it!" Tallulah rasped, twiddling her own cigarette between her middle and index fingers. "I'm pretty damn sure Pandora unleashed all the evils into the world by opening a carton of smokes."  
Teola tossed the package back down onto the bed, and laid her head down on the bed.  
"I'm tired Tallulah." She yawned, glancing at the clock on the wall. "It's three in the morning."  
Nodding, Tallulah tossed her cigarette to the floor and rolled over. "Yeah, let's hit the sheets."  
Tallulah pulled the blanket up over her head, and waited for Teola to stop squirming.  
"G'night." Teola whispered. Tallulah could feel her sister's breath sliding over the bare skin of her back, and she was thankful for the soothing sound of Teola's voice.  
Maybe tonight she'd be able to sleep.  
"Hey Tallulah?"  
Rolling her eyes, Tallulah found herself answering her sister's hushed call. "Yeah?"  
"You're not going out there to find Sidney are you?"

There was no reply from Tallulah, who pretended to snore.  
x.x.x.x

"What the hell are you doing?" Teola groaned, flipping onto her stomach and pulling the sheets over her head.  
Tallulah looked up from her furious scribbling almost sure that the letters she'd ground into the paper had been carved into her desk as well.  
But she didn't turn to her sister. She kept her gaze fixated upon the blank wall in front of her.  
"Writing my will."  
Her words sounded unharmonious, and screeched through the room like a cringing chord from an out of tune violin.  
Teola wanted to go back to bed, but she found herself asking anyways, unable to ignore the odd allure of her sister's answer. "Why?"  
Tallulah's manic hand kept on scrawling as she signed away her material possession. "Navy's making me."  
Yawning, Teola tugged the covers closer to her shin. "Can I had that pair of red heels?"  
Scoffing, Tallulah quickly jotted down that Teola could become the proud owned of those red stilettos should she perish.  
"And maybe that blue dress you wore to homecoming?" Growling, Tallulah continued to scribble, while Teola rolled over once more. "Weren't you supposed to do this days ago?"

Her remark made Tallulah feel that she was back in highschool all over again, rushing to complete some pointless assignment.  
And she did find the will pointless.  
She wasn't someone who fantasized about her own funeral.  
In fact, she wasn't someone who even cared about her own interment.  
If she was dead- well, she was dead. What did it matter who got what or how her body was disposed of?

"Did you say you wanted to be burned or cremated?" Teola quipped helpfully, her cheery voice not matching with the morbid subject.  
Tallulah stared down at the blank sport where she was supposed to declare her method in which her body would be processed.  
"Cremated." She stated, filling in the space. "Yeah, that sounds good."  
What sounded good was the prospect of being insolent.  
Her family would be horrified at the thought of her cremation.  
"Daddy's gonna kill you."  
"I'll already be dead."  
"He'll still kill you. Ain't no way he's letting you get yourself cremated."  
"Watch me."  
"You'll be dead."  
Snorting, Tallulah tossed a few inanimate objects at her sister who shouldn't have been so witty at five in the morning.  
"Aww, hush. If you want those red heels you'd better shut up."  
Teola pretended to run a key over her lips. "Shutting up."

When her sister was quiet, Tallulah glanced down at her will and read over it she was content that it expressed her indifference to last rites perfectly, she folded it and placed it in a sealed envelope.  
There was a suddenly blaring, and Teola shot up from the bed.  
"What is that?"

Tallulah glanced at the clock and immediately knew it was the van of Nurses coming to pick her up from the drive to San Francisco.  
Cursing, Tallulah stumbled over to her closet while ripping off her nightgown. She tossed it to the floor, and attempted to wriggle into her crisp, white uniform. The cotton dress clung nicely to her sides in a way the felt more efficient and practical than sexy or showy. Teola jumped out of bed, and helped Tallulah pin her nurse's cap to her pile of newly reddened curls. Their actions were frenzied as each reached for various objects that needed to be added to the suitcase. Finally, Tallulah slammed the suitcase shut, and turned to her sister as another impatient honk blasted.  
Tallulah approached her sister and stared at the face that used to be hers.  
The face that was Essie Jo's.  
The face that now belonged to Teola.

"What's your name?" Tallulah breathed, taking her sisters hands. "What is it?"  
For a second, emerald eyes blinked at equally emerald eyes as both girls realized this was the final phase of their switch, their transformation.  
"My name is Essie Jo Adams." Teola murmured as she gave her sisters' identical hands a squeeze. "I'm 18 years old, and my contractor is Esquire Models. I've been featured in numerous covers, and currently played a supporting role in the film To Have and Have Not. I hate Frank, and would do anything in my power to piss him off. I have a failed relationship with private Eugene Sledge, and am currently involved with Sidney Phillips, whom shall remain unnamed to the public. I own an apartment in East Side New York on the 15th floor, and a red Chrysler Dual Crown convertible. My contract expires on January 18th 1945."  
Tallulah gave an elated smile, and she patted her sister's cheek. "Alright. You've got it!"  
Teola's gaze flashed upwards, and dared Tallulah to remember her new identity. "And who are you?"  
"I'm Teola Kay Adams. I'm 18 years old."  
Teola gave a small smile, and she stared down at the floor. "And that's all the world knows about me."  
Tallulah shook her head, "Not for long. You're Essie Jo Adams!"  
Teola glanced at her sister's auburn features, once the signature component of her own appearance. She fingered a platinum strand, "Yeah, I guess I am."

There was a small silence that was only broken by the blare of the horn.  
"I gotta go." Tallulah noted, feeling the need to state the obvious.  
"Are you sure we can do this?" Teola breathed, fear welling in her eyes.  
Tallulah could only shrug. "Don't matter. We're doing it."  
Shaking her head, Teola threw her arms around Tallulah, their duplicate frames converging. "We're shitting crazy…" She breathed, placing her head in Tallulah's shoulder and attempting to ignore the noxious smell of ammonia that still wafted off of her twin's curls. "We're stark raving mad."  
Tallulah's tightened her embrace. "Ain't we always been?"  
Giggling, Teola nodded. "But maybe it's just the fumes."  
Tallulah shook her head. "Yeah? We can always hope."

Suddenly, the jovial attitude died as Teola uttered the dreaded phrase. "Don't get yourself killed out there."  
Tallulah didn't bother scoffing. Her throat had abruptly become to dry, as all the water seemed to have migrated to her tear ducts. "I ain't worried about me. You'll trip in some pair of six inch heels and bust your skull." She retorted through what had become a steady stream of tears. "You're the one that gonna get killed!"  
"Nuh-uh. I'm good in heels!" Sobbed Teola, whose shoulders had started to shake.  
"Yeah? That was you said the time you broke your ankle wearing that pair of stilettos!"  
Tallulah's voice broke, but she quickly wiped her snot and tears onto the sleeve of her uniform, forgoing sanitation.  
"Just don't get killed out there." Teola stated, stifling her own sobs.  
"Ain't no one that gets killed nursing.'" Tallulah noted, between shaky breaths, as she pulled away from her sister.

Their matching arms unwound around each other's tantamount torsos. Their different colored curls untangled, separating red from gold, as Teola was separated from Tallulah, and the girls became two beings again, instead of one.  
Tallulah arms fell to her side as she broke away from her sister, her twin, her other half, and Essie Jo.  
Teola raised her hand, and pointed her index finger at Tallulah, who did the same. They touched their carbon-copy fingertips together, and Tallulah could feel the hardness of Teola's scar tissue. Besides their dyed hair, their scars were their only physical difference- only their fingers that had been marred from binding their blood together set them apart in any way.  
"Forever and Ever." Tallulah uttered, pushing her own scarred fingertip to Teola's.  
"On purpose." Teola finished, pressing their fingers tightly together a final time.

There was another honk, and Tallulah grabbed her suitcase from the floor.  
She darted out the door hoping no one on the bus would notice her bloodshot eyes.  
Teola watched her sister climb into the van, and even from the bedroom window she could hear the exciting clamoring of the girls in the vehicle.  
When the car had pulled out of the driveway, Teola glanced at the clock and gave a little snort.  
It was seven in the morning.  
According to the contract she had memorized, she wasn't required to be up until eleven.  
She climbed back into bed, and pulled the covers up over her head.

Teola drifted off quickly- Tallulah's pack of cigarettes gripped tightly in her small hand. 


	25. Emerarudo

** Woahhhhhhhh. I know it's been forever and about 5 days since my last update, so I really hope I haven't lost my awesome readers and reviewers, Ber1719,BloodUpontheRisers, and Bertha Jorkins! Ya'll keep this thing going, and I apoligize for the ridiculious time it's been since an update. I'm blaming it on Homecoming, piles of homework, soccer games, and college applications ;) Anyways, I hope that everyone can enjoy this update and I hope everyone is doing well!  
PS-In case anyone hasn't already watched it- The Thin Red Line has got to be one of the best WWII movies out there. Ya'll check it out!  
**

"Ladies, single file means single file!" Scolded Matron as she surveyed her line of 233 replacement nurses that would be added to the 233 nurses that remained on the Solace. They looked eager and ready, as new recruits always should. Their eyes, whether blue, green black or brown were all wide with anticipation as the Solace creaked at her dock, groaning, as if to protest another journey into the Pacific. They all wore crisp, white uniforms, which she knew would soon be dirtied with dirt, soot, and blood. The emblem of the Nurse Core should never have been a red and white cross. It should have been one large orange stain. Red blood mixed with white cotton, made orange. Their uniforms should have come pre-colored orange.

"What's she looking at?" Kelly whispered, her voice sliding over Tallulah's shoulder. "Why's she staring at us so much?"  
Tallulah shrugged and stared out at the rickety looking mass of metal that had been dusted with a coating of white paint.  
Chips of the paint were peeling away, much like her home in Alabama, to reveal the ugly, gray scrap metal the ship was really made of.  
The old vessel didn't look like it should be able to float. Let alone save lives.  
"Us." Tallulah answered, her voice drowned out by the groaning of taut metal.  
The Solace seemed to be relaxing, finally resting after three years of service.  
"She's watching us?"  
Tallulah nodded and observed the matron pace up and down the line, her wringing her withered hands.  
"She's done this before. She's done this too many times. Look at her, she's anxious… She wants to go."

Tallulah could see her counting, her thin mouth, scarred with smile lines courting off to 233. Tallulah studied the old woman's face, which was marred with various wrinkles and lines. Tallulah glanced at the slits that remained on Matron's cheeks even after her smile had vanished- who could have made her laugh so hard to give her scars? Who had wounded her so greatly and with so much happiness to leave her permanently marked by that presence?  
But as Tallulah watched her gnarled hands fiddle with each other, she also noted the wounds- the calluses that had hardened into aged stones, the horrible disfigured arch that arthritis had given her.  
But there she was, marching up and down her line of recruits- wanting to do it all over again.  
Wanting to be wounded, wanting to be happy, to be worked, to be useful.  
Wanting to sail.

"She worked in the Spanish War, and in the first World War on the Solace." Noted Kelly, as the gangplank to the Solace finally lowered. "And she sailed on the Mercy in the '30's to South America, doing vaccines and malarial treatments."  
"It's the first time she's never sailed." Tallulah whispered, suddenly feeling pity for the 70-year-old nurse. "This is the first time she's never sailed."  
The captain was making his way down the gangplank, while Kelly continued talking. "She met her husband during the First War. He was German."  
"How'd that happen?"  
"She spotted him in some wreckage of a German battleship. Story is- she single-handedly made the Solace turn around to get him."  
Tallulah watched the old woman march up to the gangplank, her permanently hunched shoulders somehow straightening while a twisted hand somehow uncurled to salute the Captain.  
"Doesn't surprise me…"  
"He died a few years ago. She put his ashes back in the water."

Suddenly, Tallulah wanted to stop talking about him and about her.  
All she wanted to do was climb aboard the boat.  
All she wanted to do was get in the same hemisphere as Sidney.  
And not think about putting his ashes in the water.

Matron turned back to her nurses, and each glanced at her with eagerness, while the Solace continued to give creaking protests.  
"Ladies." Her hands continued to wring together in a frenetic fashion, and Tallulah wondered it she would someone squeeze out her arthritis.  
"You will be led into the Solace in pairs, and assigned rooms."  
There was sudden clamoring and talking among the group, about the pairs, and rooming arrangements. But the matron silenced them all by holding up her hand.  
"You will be assigned by numbers. 1 and 2, 3 and 4."  
Kelly gave Tallulah and excited smile, which Tallulah returned.  
She liked Kelly. She hadn't liked another girl in a long time. She hadn't really had a friend in a long time.  
Kelly would be good.

Matron looked like she wanted to say something else, as her mouth opened. But quickly, she shut it.  
The line began to file through the door in pairs, and as Tallulah climbed up the gangplank, she noted the massive metal spires and numerous lines that hung from various parts of the ship, giving the entire vessel a haphazard appearance.  
The cross on the ship's side had practically faded into the chipping white paint, rendering them a target for submarines.  
The ship seemed top-heavy, the decks piled high with converted patient rooms.  
It seemed it should have sunken as all the girls piled into the boat; the ship certainly didn't look like it could carry any extra weight.  
The matron was shaking girls' hands, praising them for their valiant efforts and dedication to service and country.  
There was something awful in her eyes, some suppressed passion, and at many moments it seemed she might have been moved to tears as she ushered the girls into the ship.

But as Tallulah and Kelly neared the doorway leading into the belly of the ship, Tallulah noticed a small procession exiting the ship from a side exit. Emerging from a side door of the boat came a small party bearing a large rectangular box.  
The casket was covered with a flag, as if the patriotic colors, or the simple notion of country could somehow ease the pain of a death in vain.  
Tallulah watched the procession carry the coffin down the gangplank, and place it down beside another group of people who were weeping.  
An older woman, and an older man, gently touched the box.  
While a little girl about Tara's age wailed and clawed at the flag that shielded her mother's coffin better than the San Francisco fog.  
And then Tallulah realized.  
Sailors were buried at sea.  
Those who died at sea stayed there.  
That coffin did not contain a sailor or serviceman- it contained a nurse.  
Kelly gasped at the sight, while Tallulah watched the distraught family run their hands over the mahogany wood, as if it were the actual the body of the daughter and mother.

Matron's voice served to tear them away from the scene, as she called their numbers. "465, 466?"  
Tallulah and Kelly nodded, while Tallulah found her head twisting, attempting to see the family once more.  
Matron clasped each of their hands, "You'll do so much good out here girls. Thank you, and God keep you."  
She turned to Kelly, "You'll be rooming with the Matron of the ship."  
Kelly's face dropped and she stared at Tallulah.  
The numbers didn't add up.  
If it were left this way there would be one girl out.  
And suddenly, Tallulah understood.  
She would be taking the place of the dead nurse.  
Matron waved Kelly away, and Kelly sent Tallulah a pleading look as she was lead off to her new cabins.  
"And 466?"  
Tallulah gulped back piles of spit that had accumulate in her mouth, swallowing down liquid nervousness her body had generated. "Yes 'mam?"  
Matron pointed towards a wall, "You'll be rooming with her."

From behind plastic paneling, emerged a slender figure who glided over the sooty concrete like a ghost. Her black hair fell down into her face, and it served to conceal skin that looked like Ming porcelain- her pale face serving as the base china, and little veins visible from exhaustion acting as the blue ink.  
Matron gave the girl a sympathetic smile, but the girl's lips stayed frozen in a line that was as straighter than her obsidian hair.  
Tallulah stuck out an awkward hand, but the aloofly elegant figure did not take her it.  
Her slanted eyes blinked down at the outstretched hand, until Tallulah tucked it back into the pocket of her skirt.  
Surprised, Tallulah turned back to the matron, who clutched her shoulder.

"Thank you for doing this Miss Adams." Whispered matron, her voice sliding out in little whisps like fine grey slivers of hair that had slid from her ponytail.  
"We couldn't have sailed without you." Matron shook her head, and raised a crippled hand to her forehead in embarrassment. "I mean, they couldn't have sailed without you."  
"I'm happy to be here." The reply sounded stupid, but it was all Tallulah could come up with as she watched the old woman.  
"Save lives." Matron warned her, "And stay safe."  
Tallulah was about to make note of the safety of her position. She was about to say that all nurses has to fear was exhaustion.  
She was about to tell matron, what she'd told Teola- that no one gets killed nursing.  
But the rousing cries of the little girl who was scratching at the coffin of her dead mother stifled Tallulah's words on the tip of her tongue.  
Obviously, she'd been wrong about that.  
So she mustered up a nod, and swallowed down her words.  
"I'll be careful."

Satisfied, Matron gave her a final pat on the shoulder before turning and maneuvering down the gangplank.  
Her steps were slow and steady, but her twisted hands clung to the railing for balance as the ship rolled with the breakers.  
As she trudged away from the Solace, Tallulah had never thought she'd looked so old  
When matron was no longer visible, Tallulah turned back to the black-haired girl whose face was still marred by that unreadable expression.  
Her eyes were so dark, that pupil and iris could not be separated, and they were made even darker by her anger.  
"This way." She finally said, gesturing that Tallulah should follow her.

Tallulah followed her silent guide through mazes of tunnels that lead deep into the belly of the ship. Her head was spinning at all the sudden turns and twists they were making, and she gave up trying to memorize the winding passageways marked only by random valves and switches. The stairways between levels were so steep and narrow that they were almost vertical. But finally, her roommate shouldered in a door to reveal a tiny little room containing only a bunkbed and a dresser. It was smaller than the bed of Sidney's truck. Thankfully, there was a tiny porthole window on the far wall, just large enough for a head to peer out of.

Tallulah's guide motioned towards the dresser, "You can put your things there if you wish." Her English was perfect, spoken so cleanly and clearly it could have been in a textbook. But her tone was impatient. As if she had better things to do than show new recruits around.  
Tallulah tossed her other two issued uniforms into a drawer, and glanced around the room.  
This was far too awkward.  
She was going to try again, and hopefully have a more successful reintroduction.  
"I'm Teola Adams." Tallulah told her roommate, not offering her hand but offering a large smile.  
Her guide sniffed and pushed pin straight stands of dark out of her porcelain face. "I'm Hisako Hayashi."  
Mentally, Tallulah put the name on playback through her mind, trying to familiarize herself with the unusual syllables and sounds.  
Again, Tallulah offered Hisako a handshake, but she didn't accept.  
Frustrated, Tallulah's newly reddened eyebrows sunk into her face, at the apparent rudeness and complete stoicism of her roommate.

"I don't like you."  
Those angled dark eyes hardly blinked, as Hisako delivered her words.  
Tallulah found herself recoiling at the phrase. She wanted to believe that Hisako was mistaken in saying so, or that she meant something else.  
But again, her English was perfect. She'd meant what she said.  
"I don't understand." Tallulah stammered, feeling far more awkward with her words than someone who had spoken English all her life should have.  
"I don't like you. You're a liar."  
Tallulah blinked in surprise- she'd only known this woman for less than an hour. "A liar?"  
"Yes. You are not who you say you are."  
"I'm Teola Adams. I don't know who else you think I could be-"  
Dark eyes dared her to continue the thought, to carry it out to its logical conclusion.  
And then she understood.  
Against all her wishes, she understood she had been recognized.  
Tallulah flung down her purse onto the floor, "Fuck."  
"Excuse me?"  
"Nothing."  
"Another lie."  
"Less consequential."

Hisako sat down on her bed, but Tallulah felt the need to pace, although the space of the closet sized room would not allow it.  
So she sat too, and prayed that her legs would remain still.  
"You are not Teola Adams, are you?"  
Tallulah shook her head, feeling defeated as she answered Hisako's question. "No. I'm not."  
"You are Essie Jo Adams are you not?"  
Tallulah stared down at the blank white sheets of her Navy issue bunk bed.  
She wanted to run her fingers along the folds in the fabric, but the bed had been made so tight, that the sheets were completely taught.  
This wasn't supposed to be happening.  
Essie Jo was supposed to have been left behind and cast away back in Hollywood.  
No longer was she supposed to carry around the scars of that superficial, material identity who was now probably lounging poolside at the Roosevelt Hotel.  
No longer was she supposed to have identified with Yank's favorite pin up, or Esquire's top model.  
Here, the only person she had to be was Teola.  
And that job was easy.  
Teola was half of her anyways.  
Essie Jo Adams was none of her.  
But Hisako was right- technically she was a liar.  
And she was tired of it all.

"Yes." Tallulah admitted, "I'm Essie Jo Adams." It was the fastest she'd ever revealed her other persona, and her speedy confession had been made to someone she'd only met half and hour ago.  
Hisako gave an assured nod, as if Tallulah's answer had only confirmed a compelling suspicion. "I knew you were."  
"How?"  
"Your eyes. I have never seen eyes that green."  
"You read my magazines?"  
"I work on a boat with many men. They read your magazines."  
Tallulah hunted for the next set of words to further the conversation, but Hisako continued. "I hated your pictures, Those stupid, set-up scenes of you posing with cars and champagne. But I could not escape your eyes. Emerarudo."  
Tallulah guessed the Japanese word had something to do with green, it even sounded like emerald.  
"And I wish you were not here."  
The simplicity and honesty of Hisako's words continued to startle and puzzle Tallulah, who was only beginning to piece together the reasons for Hisako's dislike.

"You are probably just here for publicity for your magazine. Another USO effort to raise the moral of the troops."  
Tallulah wanted to protest.  
She wanted to deny everything in one rushing string of speech that would fly out on a hurried breath, as if her fervor could prove her innocence.  
But the space between Hisako's patient sentences led Tallulah to believe that she was not finished.  
"But you can't raise the morale of dead men…" Hisako's dark gaze flashed to Tallulah's. "So, we need nurses. Not models."  
"I promise I'm not here for publicity."  
"No promises from you yet." Hisako warned, her voice strained as she pressed a hand to her forehead. "Not yet from you."  
Tallulah's eyebrows pinched together, and she gave her roommate a pleading glance. "I was not trying to be dishonest with you."  
Hisako glared down at her. "But did you really think you were fooling anyone? Did you really think that you could disguise a face that has been plastered to everything American?"  
Tallulah's helpless fingers fiddled with her reddened curls, stroking her last defense. "My hair is red now. I thought-"  
"You thought, but you did not succeed. It takes much more than hair color to change the appearance of the most photographed Pin-Up Yank has ever featured. The entire pacific knows that face. You'll have to do a better job of hiding it if you wish to deceive anyone else."  
"Deceiving was never my intention."  
"It was your every intention."

Tallulah felt more dishonest and more contradictory with every statement- but Hisako didn't understand.  
Or did she? Hisako had already figured out so much of what Tallulah had wished to leave unsaid.

Hisako's unwavering gaze held steady, as she delivered her final objection. "And for whatever reason you are here. You are taking the place of a good nurse. A good nurse that we need so badly."  
"I've had training. I've been in classes since the beginning of August-"  
Again Tallulah's words sounded stupid, when she finally was able to register the emotion that was guarding Hisako's gaze- it was grief.  
Without even an arch of her dark eyebrow, her eyes were welling with grief, expressed as a saddened, tired anger.  
"Training or not. You are replacing a good nurse. A good nurse, and a good friend."  
"I'm so sorry about your friend."  
"So is everyone. Especially her daughter."  
"it must be unbearable for her daughter."  
There was actually a furrowing of Hisako's paralyzed eyebrows, as for the first time they dipped with emotion. "Denise left her when she was only two to come on the ship. Her daughter is five now."  
Tallulah shook her head, and tried to push the harrowing image of the child clawing at the flag-covered coffin out of her mind.  
"I'm so sorry."  
"Be sorry for Lucy. She has no mother anymore."

Tallulah hung her head, and fought back the words that were beginning to swarm up her throat- those stinging, biting phrases that demanded to be released into the patient silence Hisako had created.  
"I-I- didn't come for publicity." Tallulah began, fumbling with the wooden ring that encircled her finger. "I can promise you that much. I've been at training for weeks now, and I think I at least know a little about nursing. I'm not here for esquire, or Yank, or a USO trip. I'm here to help."  
"You were helping. Your pictures were help enough."  
Tallulah glanced up into those unfathomable black eyes.  
"I couldn't take it anymore…"  
"You are here for you?"  
"In some ways."  
"Aren't we all?"

Tallulah fingers found their way into her mouth, as she began to chew on her nails.  
"I'm not here for publicity. I really wanted to help. So I didn't call myself Essie Jo- I didn't want that at all."  
Hisako's tone was a bit lighter, more interested. "You are disguised now?"  
"Apparently not very well." Muttered Tallulah, spitting little bits of nail onto the concrete floor.  
And then Hisako laughed. A melodious, joyous sound bounced off the walls of the tiny room, and Tallulah was once again shocked.  
The unbridled sound did not seem like it could come from someone so restrained- but it had.  
"You will tell me of your escape?"  
The question seemed like it could be a possible bridge to friendship, as it was asked in a kind enough way.  
But Tallulah was unsure of whether she was ready to re-hash the entire sequence of events, as complex and complicated as they were.  
"Well, it's a long story…."  
Hisako seemed to sense her uncertainty, and she blinked, her heavy lids descending upon her eyelashes.  
"No matter. We have two weeks until we reach Pavuvu. Plenty of time."

Tallulah stood, and straightened her skirt in preparation for stepping out into the ward.  
Hisako reclined onto her bed, and stared patiently up at the ceiling. "The ward is empty." She advised. "There is nothing to be done."  
Biting her lip, Tallulah sat back down on the bed and stretched out upon the cardboard mattress.  
The whitewashed walls suddenly felt like they were encroaching, and with every second the room felt smaller and smaller.  
She rolled over onto her side, to stare blankly at the adjacent white wall. But something caught her eye, a little flicker of color upon the cotton sheets.  
Tallulah stared down at a very blonde hair that shimmered in the small amount of sunlight that streamed in through the porthole window.  
It wasn't hers, and it certainly wasn't Hisako's.

Tallulah reached out a finger and touched the hair that obviously belonged to the dead nurse, whose cot Tallulah now lay in.  
She felt as if she were trespassing in some sacred area, dedicated to someone far more important and skilled than herself as she glanced down at the starched sheets. She didn't feel she had any right to remove the hair, which was a dead as its owners. But as the image of the orphaned daughter sprung up in her mind, Tallulah rolled over, unable to look at the shed strand of blonde any longer.  
But the image before her averting was no less painful than the blonde streak. She glanced over to see a steady stream of tears pouring out the corners of Hisako's ebony eyes, and wetting the sheets below. Tallulah waited a few moments, deliberating on what to do. She could see the girl's shoulders racking with sobs that she struggled to keep silent as she cried over her dead friend.

Finally Tallulah stood, and stepped over to Hisako's bed.  
The other nurse instantly shot upwards, and attempted to wipe the tears from her pale cheeks.  
For the third time that day, Tallulah offered Hisako her hand.  
And for the first time that day, pale hands as worn as the Matron's slipped into a soft, grasp whose nails still retained remnants from a previous manicure.

And when Hisako's tears subsided, her voice was as calm and level as it had ever been. "Thank you Emerarudo…"

x.x.x.x

"I don't rightly think I can recall anything weirder than walking out on this damn beach and seeing you."

Sidney Phillips noted as he trudged up to his friend who was sitting on the sandy beach of Pavuvu.  
Eugene grinned up at him, his eyes squinting as he stared up at his friend, whose blonde curls had turned blindingly white in the sunlight.  
"I don't rightly think that I can recall anything weirder than sitting on this damn island in the middle of the Pacific."  
Chuckling, Sid plopped down onto the sand next to Eugene, and in a swift motion, pulled out a pack of Luck Strikes from his dungaree pocket. He held out the box to Eugene, but the redhead shook his head, visibly shifting away from the carton of repulsive habits.  
"No thanks."  
"You'll change your mind soon enough!" Sidney warned, "You'll get bored and tired and angry as the rest of us. You'll smoke."  
"I ain't never gonna."  
"That's what they all say."

Sidney stared down at his arms, which had turned russet from his summer in Alabama, and return to the Pacific. He glanced at the scratches on his forearms from his tussle when he and Eugene had first met.  
Some things never changed.  
He could still whip his ass in a wrestling match.

"You're a damn fool to come out here Eugene." Sidney scolded, almost cringing at how condescending he sounded. He felt ten times older than his best friend, and ten times more separated than they once had been. But he continued. It was all he had to say. "You shoulda stayed at home. Nursed that murmur for all it's worth."  
Eugene's dark eyes stared out at the ocean, and he didn't look back at his friend. "It's gone now. When I went to the station they said it was gone."  
Sidney laughed, sending rings of his smoky breath floating out into the hot air. "And you always used to say that you'd die before me…" He clapped Eugene on the back, and felt muscles that had developed primarily due to boot camp.  
Eugene gave him a sly stare. "I'll still die before you. But only because I have more fun drinking, fucking, and adventuring…'"  
Sid grinned. "You ain't never done any of those things."  
"Neither have you."

Oh, but he had.  
How Sid wished he could have admitted everything to his best friend, his new comrade, and his old brother.  
But he couldn't- not when Eugene needed to focus only on his own survival as a replacement.  
So Sid shook his head- denying the late summer nights, and hot afternoons he had spent lying with Eugene's would-be wife.  
"Nope…"

Eugene tossed a small stone into the surf, and watched a crap flit away from the splash. "Everyone's talking about the Solace coming here from San Francisco. I've never seen men so excited about getting inoculated again.."  
Sid grinned at the thought of it, the thought of standing on something other than jungle leaves, hot sand, or rough palm planks.  
He couldn't wait to feel the cool solid hard concrete under his feet. "Yeah. Hey, if you'd been here as long as some of these guys have…"  
Eugene held his hands up. "I'm just sayin.' And you weren't even here all summer."  
"Yeah."

"So How was being back in ol' Mobile?" Playfully, Eugene threw his shoulder into Sid's arm. "How was that July Ball?"  
Again, Sid swallowed back the truth of his evening with Tallulah, feeling further away from her by restraining.  
"Oh, it was okay. A long story."  
"A long story huh?" Eugene countered, tossing another rock into the waves as Sidney sucked on his cigarette. "You've got two damn weeks with nothing better to do!"  
Sid grunted and lifted the cigarette to his lips once more as he stared out at the steady tide, wishing he could see all the way to Los Angeles.


	26. From a Whisper to a Scream

** Alright ya'll. Here's another chapter. I'm so glad that everyone liked the last chapter! Thanks to BloodUpontheRisers and BerthaJorkins for their reviews. Ya'll be sure to check out Just an Ocean Away by BloodUpontheRisers! And thanks to my dearest Ber1719, she really helps me keep this story going, even when she's working her ass off at college ;D  
Anyways, I hope everyone can enjoy this next chapter, beware the typos. I feel they might be lurking, no matter how hard I just searched :P  
Ellie  
**

Tallulah blinked awake to the beam of concentrated light that poured in through the porthole window. The whitewashed room that had felt entirely too small for the first few days aboard the Solace had begun to feel comfortable. The cardboard cot had softened from her tossing and turning in the night, and now felt relatively comfortable too. Her days on the way to Pavuvu had been spent tanning on the upper deck, sunning on the middle deck, and lounging on the lower deck. Her schedule was only punctuated by the swell of the waves, the sound of the dinner bell, and how sunburnt she was on that particular day.

The maze of tunnels and narrow passageways that snaked through the ship's belly were becoming more familiar each day. She'd learned her way around the ship, memorizing the quickest ways from supply room to ward, ward to ward, and ward to offload station. She made a point to familiarize herself with the little exam rooms, stations and curtains where she might be stationed, determined to be the master of her medical surroundings. She'd even taken a wary peek at the inside of the dark OR.

Hisako had continued to be habitually quiet, and habitually amused at Tallulah's antics, and accent. As far as Tallulah could tell, Hisako had revealed to no one, her other identity- and for that she was grateful. Her roommate seemed to constantly doubt her nursing abilities, and Tallulah didn't blame her. She wasn't so sure a month long class could possibly teach her everything she needed to know to save lives- and she wasn't about to learn by trail and error process.

Tallulah blinked again, and watched her roommate slip on her crisp white dress.  
She could hear the rustle of fabric, and all she could think of was the way that silky dress had crinkled as it had slid off her hips on that night.  
She shook her head, clearing the sexually nostalgic fog.  
Hisako glanced over her skinny shoulder, as she slipped on her shoes.  
"Are you ready for today, Emerarudo?"  
Tallulah smiled at her new nickname. Hisako had long given up attempting to call her Teola, or Tallulah, or even Adams.  
She'd stuck with the little moniker that had slipped out, on that night when she'd needed someone so badly, that she let held the hand of a lying woman whose hand she'd refused to shake earlier that day.  
"Yeah, I think I'm ready." Tallulah replied, stumbling out of bed and towards the small dresser.  
Hisako fixed her with a glare. "Don't think. Just be. Be ready."  
Tallulah was used to feeling dumbfounded by Hisako's wise, patient little corrections, and simply nodded as she usually did, when Hisako tweaked her attitude.  
"I'll be ready."  
"Good."

From throughout the porthole window, Tallulah could see the little spit of land that was serving as the refugee for many of the marines in the Pacific.  
It was a tiny spec of land, somehow formed in an ocean that threatened to envelop it in one tidal whim.  
Hisako adjusted her bun in the mirror, and stared back at Tallulah.  
"Remember what you learned today, and everything will be fine."  
With Hisako's prompting, Tallulah felt the nerves stirring deep in the pit of her stomach, as she stared out at the boats that were approaching the Solace, piled high with marines. She wasn't sure the hospital ship could hold all the soldiers that had been packed like sardines into the amtracs.  
Hisako stared out at the boats too and her dark eyebrows, which usually remained stationary, dipped.

"There are so many." Her voice trailed off. "They'll be pouring in until nightfall." Her voice dropped, and it seemed she was more distressed about the second statement than the first. Tallulah's eyebrows also furrowed. "What's wrong with that? At least we get the chance to do something other than tan… Look at this!" She pointed to the line that wearing her bikini had given her. "Look at that tan line."  
Hisako shook her head, sending straight black strands flying. "Nothing. Nothing is wrong."  
Tallulah dared to give her a small grin. "Liar."  
Hisako's tin lips upturned into what could have been classified as a tiny smile. "Not like you Emmaurado. I doubt anyone can lie like you."  
Tallulah's eye narrowed, and she stuck out a sophomoric tongue at her roommate. "Gee thanks."  
"You are welcome."

Tallulah bent down to slip on her shoes. "Seriously, what's so wrong with all the marines being up here until night?"  
Hisako gave her a tired smile. "You'll see soon enough."  
Tallulah groaned at Hisako's calm patience, never-ending, tireless patience that tended to have her speaking in vague little euphemisms that always ended with the same conclusion: that Tallulah would 'see'  
But Tallulah didn't always want to see, she wanted to just be told. But Hisako spoke either in blatantly, or with complete obscurity, which made Tallulah's own patience seem in even shorter supply.  
Hisako glanced at the clock, "You should go down to your station."  
Tallulah took a deep breath and straightened her skirts, which she knew would be wrinkled within the hour.  
"And you, what are you going to do?"  
Hisako said nothing and turned away from the window as the boats began unloading soldiers onto the decks of the Solace.  
"Wait until night."

Puzzled again, Tallulah adjusted the stupid nurses' cap that she had barely been able to fasten to her piles of flaming curls. "why?"  
Again, she was answered by Hisako's patience. "You will see."  
"Or you could just tell me?"  
Hisako shook her head. "No, this you can see. I promise. And you'll understand far better than if I told you." Her voice lowered, and she slowly, as if piecing together her words. "Sometimes, I do not understand it."  
Tallulah sighed and gave her roommate a pat on the shoulder, trying to focus on her mystifying answers.  
"Well, I will see you later today then!"  
Hisako shook her head once more. "If all goes well, you won't see me at all."  
There was a blaring siren, and the call light in the tiny berth lit up.  
Tallulah was almost relieved to be saved from the temptation to ask Hisako more questions, which she would only partially answer.  
"Go on." Hisako urged, "Let's see what a month of training did for you!"  
Tallulah laughed and grimaced. "Probably not much."  
"Good luck Emmaraudo."

Tallulah nodded and slipped out of the room, joining the stream of nurses coursing through the hallways. Tallulah blended into the flowing river of white that was slowly winding it's way through he narrow passages of the Solace. And as she was absorbed into the sea of crisp white uniforms, she felt a part of something bigger than herself.  
Something fare larger than Essie Jo.  
Bigger than the entirety Esquire models.  
Bigger than the cast of To Have and Have Not.  
Larger than her family, and larger than her unit.  
Maybe, even something so massive as to rival her bond with Sidney.  
For the first time in a long time, Tallulah felt a part of something much larger- even if it was something as horrible as the War.

x.x.x.x

The grating noise of Eugene running his bayonet against the sharpening rock, screeched through the air and clashed horribly with the rhythmic beat of the waves pounding the beach.  
"Will you cut that out?" Sid grumbled, lifting his floppy cap to squint up at his old friend, and new recruit. "I'm truing to sleep here."  
"You been trying to sleep all day!"  
"Key word- trying!"  
Eugene mumbled something incoherent, something about Sid getting the chance to sleep all summer while he was at bootcamp working his ass off.

But Sid stopped listening- because it wasn't true.  
He'd lain awake for most of the summer, staring up at his ceiling until the early hours of the dawn.  
And when his eyes would finally close, he didn't see blank blackness instead of that damned ceiling.  
He saw vivid recreations of the places and people he'd fought, and fought with.  
Images of Robert Leckie, Runner Connely and thousands of dead and unnamed Jap faces, which all looked the same to him, barraged his mind.

Sid didn't sleep- he writhed in the mud on Gloucester, and shot at Japs with shaking hands on the Canal.  
After that, he picked the dead bodies of his comrades off the barbed wire, tearing flesh away from stabbing metal.  
And then he watched men loose their mind, sinking deeper and deeper into insanity as the company moved deeper and deeper into the jungle.  
He hadn't slept.  
He'd done everything but sleep.  
He'd screamed for men who weren't even there, awaking his own household and half the neighborhood.  
He'd clawed on the walls, leaving his nails broken and bloody, and the walls etched with his wartorn artwork.  
He'd strangled Tallulah, and inadvertently terrorized Katherine.

"I ain't hardly slept since this war stared."  
Eugene said nothing, but his eyes ran up and down the length of his bayonet.  
"Someone told me we don't need these things."  
"Depends on how good of a shot you are."  
"I'm a good shot."  
Sid grunted and shifted to avoid an uncomfortable beam of ray of sun that was beaming him in the face. "Then you don't need it. You can't aim straight with that thing."

Eugene scoffed and set down the bayonet, before tossing the rock aside, feeling more like a replacement than ever.  
Sid gave his friend an appreciative nod, before rolling over onto his stomach. "Thanks."  
"Oh you ain't won yet." Eugene noted, fiddling with a shell he'd uncovered in the sand. "I'll sharpen it later when you're off to get inoculations."  
Sid snorted, "I done told you. You're a good shot. You don't need that thing."  
Eugene's answered was simple, and mirrored the sheer boredom only a impatient young recruit could have felt. "Gives me something to do."  
Eugene glanced around him at the island which served as the marine's reprieve from the fighting. "Ain't nothing to be done on this island except scrub drum buckets."

Sidney chuckled. How could Eugene ever understand how lovely and wonderful it felt to be doing nothing?  
How nice it was to not be firing a weapon at another human?  
How could he ever understand how much better this was than dodging bullets that flew through the tangles of bamboo?  
How could a man that had never fought understand a man who had?  
How could a man with virgin hands understand a man who killed on numerous occasions

But Sidney nodded back up at his friend, pretending to be empathetic. Otherwise, he would have seemed all too condescending.  
"Yeah. It's a pretty boring place."  
Eugene fingered the various parts of a rifle, tracing them as lovingly as Sid had once seen him trace the curve of Tallulah's cheek. "I can't wait to get out there Sidney. I can't wait to do something else besides sit."  
Again, Sid has nothing say that would have been either a complete lie or something completely patronizing.  
So he just grunted, and buried his head between his tan forearms.

"What's it like out there Sidney?"

Eugene's question swept across the beach as he unleashed unspeakable words into the hot air, posing the question that was never supposed answered, let alone asked. You were never supposed to ask a question that would cause another man to actually have to contemplate what the fighting was like, when all he was trying to do was forget.  
For a second, the entire world seemed still to Sid.  
He couldn't feel his own breathing, and couldn't hear the roar of crashing waves as Eugene asked the illegal question.  
He swallowed, concentrating on one tiny spot of sand as the entire world resumed- waves crashing, gulls calling, breathing restarting.  
He felt dizzy.

"What's it like?"  
His voice was harsh, far more caustic than he'd wanted it to sound.  
But he was angry at Eugene for asking him, for forcing him to remember, demanding him to recall the things he'd seen and done on the Canal and Gloucester.  
"Like you could never imagine."

And Eugene couldn't imagine.  
He realized it now as he stared at his tormented friend.  
Everything that Sidney had left unsaid, all those little, repressed, unspoken voices of traumatic events past had elevated form a whisper to a scream.  
And now as the chorals of Sid's horrific encounters screamed at him, it was blatantly obvious to Eugene.  
He couldn't understand Sidney, his best friend and his brother.  
Not now.  
Not when Sid was still stuck on the Canal, while Eugene was in the present Pavuvu.

Sid's blue eyes went blank as he stared off into the surf, and Eugene placed a hand on his friend's shoulder.  
"I'm sorry Sid. I didn't mean too."  
But Sid didn't reply.  
He just glared out at the ocean, obviously seeing something other than the crashing waves.  
He was paralyzed as he sat there, mesmerized by something invisible and horrible he could see just above the breakers.  
So Eugene placed his arm around his friend, and Sid let his head fall onto Eugene's shoulder.  
"Sidney?"  
Again there was no reply.  
Eugene sighed, and leaned back against the palm tree, careful to keep Sid's head on his shoulder.  
He stared out into the ocean where the gloriously white Solace floated, but a voice averted his attention downward.

"Like you could never imagine." Sid whispered, his eyes still disturbingly out of focus. "Like you could never imagine."

x.x.x.x

"You nervous or something hun?"

Tallulah stared down at the pair of hips that shifted easily, as her patient rested his dark forearms on the metal exam table.  
Her eyes cut to the side, "No."  
"You been tapping that glass for about ten minutes now."  
Tallulah finally noticed the throbbing in her index finger, from repeatedly flicking the glass syringe. "Uh, gotta mix up the vaccine."  
He twisted his neck to glance back at her, a wry little grin playing on his thin lips. "Hun, I'm sure it's mixed by now. You fingers gonna fall off."  
She stared at the dark-haired soldier, who had the most undecipherable expression in his jade colored eyes.  
Something made those empty eyes dance.  
Something terrifying- maybe the same thing that made Sidney scream in his sleep.

She shook her head, trying to shake away the affects of his bizarre gaze, and approached him with her needle.  
"Drop your skivvies."  
Fashioning an expression of mock promiscuity, the marine dropped his underwear to the floor.  
"Oh, babe. You get right to it don't you?"  
He gave a chuckle and patted his bare butt as he peeked back at her, adjusting the dosage on the syringe.  
Again, her eyes narrowed and she glanced at his chart and noted his name, which she found to be as strange as his appearance.  
"Don't get fresh with me, Merrill Sheldon."  
"Aw, darling. I ain't getting fresh. Just speaking truth.' You ain't never seen an ass this pretty have ya?"

He wriggled his behind at her, and she quickly stabbed him with the syringe.  
She sunk the needle deep into his tanned flank, punishing him for pulling every predictable, sophomoric stunt he could have given the situation.  
He grimaced and let out a pained whistle at the all-out stab that required actually putting her weight behind the syringe.  
"Jesus…" He muttered, a hand instantly coming to rub his injection site. "I think the other side of that needle is poking through my stomach."  
Tallulah snorted and wiped the reddened area with a pad of isopropyl alcohol, which burned wonderfully in her nostrils.  
She strode back over to the counter and picked up another syringe.  
The marine swung around to face her when he heard the telltale sound of clinking, as Tallulah's fingernails struck the glass vile.

"Aw, not another one."  
"Two more actually."  
"Would you be a doll and let's just call this off while we're still ahead?"  
"Nope."

The tanned marine glared back at her, as she mixed up the second inoculation. "You ain't much for talking are you?"  
Tallulah's eyes flashed up to meet his gaze.  
"I didn't know you wanted to talk."  
His drawling voice staggered over every word, and listening to his sentences Tallulah felt like she was piece together an oral, Cajun puzzle.  
"I don't wanna talk. Just make some damn conversation."  
Tallulah gave a little scoff, as she measured out another component for the vaccine. "Well, let's make some damn conversation. Where ya from? What's your name?"

He smiled, and instantly Tallulah knew he was from New Orleans.  
His large, green eyes squinted up into little half-moons full of laughter.  
She could see them cackling down at his full lips, and cheeks as smooth as Pontchartrain bay.  
She could see it in that eerily lazy smile, that threatened and allured her all at the same time.

"New Orleans. I'm Snafu, and I'm from New Orleans."  
She wondered about the interesting choice of acronym he'd been given as his nickname in the marine core, but decided not to ask.  
She'd been told to avoid talking directly about the war.  
He stared back at her, those damn eyes blinking slowly and surely. "How about you doll? Where'd ya get hair that red?"  
Tallulah fingered strand of her recently reddened hair, and opted not to tell him that this time, her crimson shade was from a bottle. "Mobile. Mobile, Alabama."  
His crescent-moon eyes sunk back down. "I got a guy Mobile in my company."  
Instantly, Tallulah's interest piqued, and she felt the syringe drop from her hands and land on the metal table with a clank.  
"What's his name? Is it Sidney Phillips?"  
Snafu gave a knowing grin, "Nah, that ain't his name. I don't know no Sidney Phillips."  
Tallulah shrugged, and began striking the glass again, which only made Snafu shoot her that unnerving grin.  
"But you know a Sidney Phillips don't ya?" He chuckled when he said the phrase, taunting her with how much her eagerness had inferred.  
Tallulah tried not to appear flustered. "I know a Sidney Phillips…"  
"You love a Sidney Phillips."

For a moment, Tallulah thought about sinking another needle deep into his hip, giving him another good stab.  
But she didn't.  
It didn't matter if he knew that she loved Sidney.  
It shouldn't have mattered if anyone knew that she loved Sidney.  
Especially not to him, some random marine out in Pavuvu.  
Snafu didn't know Eugene, he didn't know Sidney, and he didn't know her.  
"Yeah." She agreed, uncapping another syringe with her teeth. "I love Sidney."  
Snafu nodded, "Ya know what I love?"  
She shook her head. "Nah, what do you love?"  
He reached for his pants, which lay on the table, and dug into his pocket.  
He pulled out a closed handful of something, ang grinned up at her. "I love teeth."

One by one he dropped tooth after tooth onto the exam table, each one bouncing a little as it hit the metal.  
It sounded like popcorn on the stove.  
Snafu watched each tooth drop with such caution, and care, it would seem that the teeth were either sacred.  
Either that, or some form of currency.  
But then Tallulah looked closer, and noted that the teeth were all gold.  
He spread his arms wide, and gave her a proud smile. "My collection!"  
Tallulah dared to ask something she knew she shouldn't. She almost didn't want to know the answer. "Where'd you get them?"  
"Mouths." His voice lulled over the words, as if the answer was really that simple. "Jap mouths."  
"Someone cuts the teeth out and gives them to you?"  
Snafu thumbed himself in the chest. "I'm a damn good surgeon. Ya'll ain't hiring now are ya?"  
Tallulah swallowed back a mouthful of nauseating spit that had pooled in her mouth as she though about the extracted teeth.  
"Are they dead when you…"  
"Sometimes. Usually dead by the time I get through with 'em…"

And that was when Tallulah noticed that Snafu smiled the whole time that he told her this, a grin plastered to his lips. It was almost as if he were reveling, baring his own teeth to show that he still had had some, unlike those Japs he'd preformed 'surgery' on.  
Tallulah said nothing, and quickly jabbed him with the shot in an attempt to discontinue his disturbingly incessant grinning.  
She didn't want to look at it anymore.  
As she predicted, the prick of the needle halted his smiling and his mouth turned downward into a bracing grimace.  
She removed the needle, and tossed it into a trashcan, and brushed her hands together.

"You're good to go." She told him, already prepping her station for another patient. "You can head off to the next station."  
"Trying to get rid of me huh?"  
He smiled back at her, shooting her that alarmingly unsettling leer- but Tallulah had no more shots to give him.  
So as he had braced for her needle, she turned and braced to the continuation of that eerie grin.  
"No, just ready to help my next patient."  
He bent down and pulled his pants up, before turning to stare back at her.  
"Liar."

She blinked, and slowly set down another syringe she had been readying for the next soldier.  
She was surprised by that word.  
By how many people had called her that in the last few weeks.  
She'd gotten over her natural aversion to the words connotation, and was beginning to think of it as a fact.  
Maybe she was a liar, but she took comfort in the fact that she was not a good one.

Again she was silent as she began to unpackage another small vile of vaccine, and Snafu headed to the door.  
He had one foot through the ship's archway, when he turned back to her.  
He scuffed his foot against the concrete floor, and finally glanced up at her.  
"Ya know, I think I've heard of that Sidney Phillips before…"

And then he vanished from the doorway.

Tallulah hands shook as she sat down the last of her vaccines onto the table, and her eyes could barely focus on reading the dosages on the syringes. Suddenly, everything inside her ached, and all she wanted to do was stare out the window and wonder if her marine was really on Pavuv, or if that proposition was as crazy as the man who had suggested it.

These little murmurs of Sidney were rising from a whisper to a scream, and soon enough they would deafen her.


	27. Ain't Normal

**Well, another day, another chapter? Yeah, anyways, thanks so much to my amazing reviewers, BloodUpontheRisers, Bertha Jorkins and AlishaofTroy :) Getting ya'll's comments made my day, and I appreciate them ever so much. If you like this chapter, or if you're like me, and don't, drop me a line and let me know! **  
**I hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving!  
-Ellie**

"I suppose this is why they call her the queen of the industry?"

Frank stared out at Essie Jo Adams, who was pressing her gorgeous legs up against a new model Chevy convertible, christening it with overt sexuality.  
"She is the best in the business." He replied to Spencer, an agent.  
"Undoubtedly." The agent noted, shifting uncomfortably as he watched Essie Jo spread her legs across the hood of the sports car.  
He tugged at his belt, which suddenly felt too tight, although he was unable to remove gaze from the platinum starlet before him.

Frank suppressed a grin behind a carefully placed hand.  
It was amazing how much money he made off of Essie Jo's ability to produce these exact desirous reactions in men.  
Her million dollar legs made him double that a year, and her platinum curls allowed him to drive the Rolls-Royce of his dreams.  
He could thank her set of beautifully firm breasts for his high-rise in New York, and townhouse in Los Angeles, while he was sure he owed his collection of designer suits to that perfect ass she'd been so flawlessly trained to showcase.  
But those eyes, those unnerving emerald eyes, if left unchecked, could threaten everything.  
Sometimes, no matter how her supple body was posed, something too hard in her eyes would give away the whole façade.

But lately, Frank had noticed that the insolent glint he'd come to fear, had vanished. He hadn't seen that look in her poses in quite awhile, and considered it a personal victory. Maybe she was finally realizing, that she was lucky to have this job, lucky to have him as an agent, and lucky to have the physical assets she did.  
Otherwise, that hateful glint would have ruined her career long ago.

"Really, Frank, she's magnificent!" Noted Spencer as he watched her give a pronounced wink to the camera. "She must be a handful."  
"The good ones always are…"  
Spence nodded. "I'm sure you've only got about a hundred people waiting on her, and I'm sure she's convinced that it's not enough."  
Frank wanted to laugh again, and hit his colleague on the knee and digress into some conversation about bitchy models who demanded more money, things, time, or services.  
But he couldn't. Because Essie jo had never been like that. She'd never demanded more, but simply wanted less- an inconceivable request he could not grant.  
So as Frank always did, he gave a little nod and knowing smile.  
"I don't think a thousand people waiting on her hand and foot would be enough."  
The two men shared a good chuckle before staring back at the scene in front of them, as another girl was brought in to pose with Essie Jo.  
"Ya know, I've got a girl like that." Spencer complained, "Always wanting a raise. Always wanting more money. I swear, we can barely get her out of bed for under five thousand."

How Frank wished he could agree, how he wanted so badly to know what that hell-model would be like. In his mind, a demanding model would have been infinitely easier to deal with that a woman who wanted nothing more than to go home, and back to a previous life.  
But somehow, his insolent, homesick, lovelorn girl had been cursed with curves that begged for attention, and had turned into the face of Esquire.  
"She's a handful." Frank told his friend, as Spencer began to push a few portfolio photos towards the virtuoso who had discovered the most successful model of the decade.  
Frank glanced at a couple of the photographs and saw the eager eyes of girls who would have given anything to be baring their legs across the hood of that hot little convertible.

He raised an eyebrow at his young college, "How old are they?"  
"Mostly early twenties. Twenty two, twenty five."  
"Too old." Frank advised. "I got Essie when she was seventeen."  
"Seventeen?" Spencer breathed in astonishment.  
Frank chuckled and ran his hands together. "Start 'em early Always easier to make 'em look older than younger."  
Spence whistled, and tried to direct Frank's attention to another picture. "So what about her, do you think she's too-"  
Frank held up his hand to point at another car rolling in, along with a new outfit for Essie Jo.  
Frank leaned back a little in his seat, preparing for the rest of the show, and motioned for Spence to do the same.  
Essie Jo Adams hoisted herself onto the back of the car, and the fans were turned on whip around her skirts.  
"The way this girl can pose isn't normal..." Frank noted, a little element of victory apparent in his voice as he stared out at his prized possession flexing her legs in a pair of six inch stilettos. "Watch and learn Spencer.."

x.x.x.x

Tallulah pushed strands of sweaty hair out of her face as she scribbled something on her clipboard. She could hear the sizzling of lights in adjacent stations as they shut off one by one. Hurrying, she swept an alcohol soaked towel across the exam table, and picked up her clipboard.  
Suddenly, Hisako burst through the curtain, holding a clipboard of her own.

"Tallulah, good evening."  
Tallulah smiled up at her friend, who looked as immaculate as she had earlier this morning. "Evening, Hisako."  
Hisako stared down at her clipboard, "How are the vaccinations going?"  
Tallulah glanced down at her own checklist. "I'm done. Just have to shut down this station."  
Hisako nodded and scribbled something on a piece of paper.  
"Very good work. You've certainly been busy."  
Tallulah snorted at the understatement, "I'd say. And you? How have you been?"  
Hisako nodded, "I've been doing well. Logging paperwork in the back for some of the day. About to start my nightshift."  
Tallulah was too tired to be puzzled by her friend's schedule, which seemed to revolve around not being seen.  
"When will you be back to our room?" Tallulah asked, "Should I wait up for you?"  
Hisako shook her head. "Oh no, I will be working all night."  
"Do you need help?"  
"No."  
"Does anyone need help?"  
"No, all these stations are shutting down. You are relieved after you clean up here..."  
"Alright."  
Hisako jotted something else down on her sheet, and turned to leave. "Tallulah?"  
"Hmm?"  
"Have a nice evening."

Tallulah smiled up at her friend who glided out of the inoculation station, her tiny feet skimming over the concrete. She tossed a few more used gauze pads into the trashcan, and then flipped off her light, relishing in the click of the lightswitch.  
She glanced down the hall and could only see one other station still open at the very end of the corridor.

x.x.x.x

Sid rocked back and forth on his heels as we waited for a nurse to take him behind one of those flimsy little curtains.  
He loved the feeling of stable ground; something rock hard that didn't sink and shift underneath his feet like sand. He'd been standing in line for the better half of the day, waiting for his number to be called.  
But he didn't mind.  
He loved the concrete floors, the dark walls and the scent of sanitation drifting from the ward that barred him from seeing or smelling the ocean.

Finally, a nurse approached him, shooting him a smile that seemed a bit too enthusiastic. "You're Sidney Phillips?"  
He nodded, "Yes 'Mam. Evening."  
She grinned at him again, and motioned for him to follow her. She lead him behind a curtain, and motioned towards the table.  
"Alright then, if you'll just wait here, I'll be right with you."

Sid nodded and fiddled with the pebble that lay in his pocket. He ran his fingers over the rock's smooth surface as lovingly as he'd swept his hands across Tallulah's blushing cheeks. He'd written to her at least once a day, and mailed her a letter every chance he'd gotten.  
But she never replied. He hadn't heard from her since that very first letter he'd been able to send her.  
He tried not to worry about it.  
But he did.  
He worried about her regressing back into old habits far more dangerous than other male company.

He could see her drowning in her bathtub, filled with some clear, alcoholic liquid serving as bathwater.  
He could see her slouched against the grimy brick of some dark alleyway, surrounded by only a company of Cognac containers.  
He could see her dead in that hot red convertible, an empty bottle of culprit Vodka clutched between her cold fingertips  
And these little visions terrified him almost as much as his other dreams, if not more so.

He studied the grooves and nicks in the pebble.  
Then watched the enthusiastic nurse, Kelly, frantically flit around for a moment.  
She rushed to and fro, but never really got anywhere.  
If that girl was the redhead that Snafu had been talking about all day…  
Well, Snafu's vision must have been impaired from one to many inoculations.

x.x.x.x

"Tallulah, Tallulah!"

Tallulah whirled around grinned when she saw Kelly rushing up towards her, stacks of loose papers in her arms.  
Tallulah shook her head at her friend. She watched several papers escape from Kelly's grip and fly back behind her, catching a draft from above deck. "Yes?"  
Kelly heaved a sigh, and ran a hand over her forehead. "I forgot to file these after each patient today, and we were supposed to have them all completed before we shut down. Did you do yours?"  
Tallulah's face fell a little, in sympathy for her forgetful friend. "Yeah, I did, right between each vaccination."  
Kelly gave her a little smile, one ridden with shameful expectation. "You wouldn't see my last patient for me would you so I can get this done?"  
Tallulah glanced down at Kelly's unorganized stacks of papers that were slipping from hr grasp. She gave her friend and easy smile and patted her on the back. "Yeah, I'll get him for you, otherwise you'll be down here all night!"  
Gushing her thanks in an incomprehensible sting of chatter, Kelly scurried away.

Tallulah gave a small groan as she plodded over towards Kelly's still open station. She placed a hand on her back, and felt the tightness of those muscles. She'd actually started developing a few blisters on her thumb and index finger from administering the shots, and her feet hurt worse in those white navy shoes, than they'd ever hurt an a pair of her six inch stilettos.  
Tallulah sighed and smoothed her disheveled hair, and straightened her wrinkled skirt.  
She wanted to look profession and legitimate, even if she didn't feel like it.  
She snatched the patient's chart, and flung open the curtains, clearing her throat to announce her presence.  
When the curtain flew away, the chipboard fell from Tallulah's hands, and she staggered a few steps backwards.  
A hand clutched to her stationary chest, which should have been moving, breathing and gasping.

The man sitting on the metal exam table didn't wear a shirt, just a dusty green vest that hung off his slender frame.  
His bare chest was slick with sweat from sitting in the below deck heat, and his dogtags gleamed in the harsh light of the exam room.  
He'd obviously stolen a belt, large and leathery, from some unlucky officer in an attempt to hold up his sagging boondockers which sat low on his skinny hips.  
His blonde curls had grown to a non-regulation length, and twisted around into a shaggy golden mess.  
And eyes, those cornflower eyes had grown even bluer from longing.

"Sidney?" She breathed whispering his name as if she were praying to it. "Sidney?"  
He'd been staring too, taking in her rumpled skirt, tousled hair and that angelic face that had haunted him since July.  
With the second utterance of his name, he threw himself off the table, and rushed towards her.  
When his arms wrapped around her, and their bodies reformed into a passionate mold that never should have been broken, Tallulah found that she could say nothing but his name. Telling him she'd missed him, asking him why he hadn't written- all paled in comparison to gasping his name.  
And even his name flowing hot and molten from her lips seemed insignificant.  
She could say more with her kisses, with her moans, and with her touch, than she could ever express with her fumbling words and awkward syllables.

"Tallulah… Tallulah I-"  
Sid never finished the sentence, as he was overcome by the complete need to hold her in his arms- to show that he loved her rather than merely tell.  
Sid grabbed her waist, and yanked her closer to him. His tongue teased apart her lips and Tallulah moaned into the wet heat of his mouth, which tasted like salt and cigarettes. Their smiles slid together, and they kissed with upturned lips that had frozen into a delirious, un-abating grin. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and he surged forward, as if pushing them towards an invisible bed they would never actually reach. Legs tangled, Tallulah collapsed into the exam table, and in an attempt to keep their lips plastered together, tugged downwards on his dogtags.

He jerked her upwards, pulling her off the floor, and setting her atop the metal stand. He sighed into her lips and deepened the kiss before pulling back. She gave a protesting cry, but just as she felt his heated lips pressing to the hollow of her throat, her cries turned into savory whimpers. His hands, which had been resting dangerously atop her knees, finally took advantage of her shoved-up skirt, to begin exploring the dark, warm places between her legs. She could feel her chest heaving as she attempted to obtain air between his stifling kisses. Every breath she took was a needy gasp, but she wasn't quite sure what she was begging for- oxygen or more of Sidney's addictive touch. She needed to breathe - but didn't want to if it meant loosing his lips for even a second. She combed slender fingers through his golden hair, while his mouth meandered across her whole body. A slick covering of sweat had appeared on her chest, and while the hospital bay below deck was hot, Sidney and Tallulah were producing the kind of heat that can only be created through pressing kisses, straying hands, and rhythmic motions.

Neither noticed the sound of footfalls approaching the curtained cubicle, as neither could hear anything over the symphony of their gasping, moaning and sighing. The curtain flew back, and Hisako's eyes widened as she glanced around the room that had obviously been wrecked by their passionate impulses. Various instruments lay strewn around all over the floor, and an entire jar of cotton swabs had over turned and now littered the table and counter with a snowlike covering. Hearing the wish of the curtain, Sid cursed and began redoing the fly of his pants, while Tallulah tugged down on her skirt that sweat had been adhered to the back of her thighs.

"We've got a bad problem of getting caught on tables, don't we?" Sid joked, grinning down at Tallulah, and stroking though her damp curls.  
She returned his smile as she felt a pang in her back from where she had been pressed to the hard edge of the exam table. "Yeah, it ain't normal."  
Tallulah turned to face Hisako, unhurried and unrepentant.  
Her friend was tapping her foot impatiently on the concrete.

"So this must be Sidney Phillips?"

x.x.x.x.

Teola smiled at the maid that handed her a stack of mail, much more than she normal got. Frank must have forgotten to throw out all personal letters from agents asking her to consider switching companies. One by one, Teola tossed out alternative offers, invitations to galas she didn't wish to attend, and some advertisements for real estate in Beverly Hills. She was about to dump the entire pile of letters into the trash, when she noticed the mailing address of a letter towards the bottom of the pile. Quickly she ripped away it's envelope, and snagged the letter, her eyes scanning the paper.

_Dear Tallulah,_  
_The other evening was wonderful. I can't tell you how amazing it was to spend time like that with you again. I'm glad that it seems you've forgiven me for everything, but I must ask for that same forgiveness once more. I'm shipping out tomorrow for Pavuvu, so I won't be able to see you again soon. You know that I hope that you'll continue to wait for me as you have, because I cannot wait to hold you in my arms again as I did last night._  
_Yours,_  
_Eugene_

x.x.x.x  
_  
"She ain't at the Canteen tonight Eugene…" Mueller noted, downing another shot of whisky. "Your girl ain't here." _  
_"She's here…" Eugene muttered, glancing around the bar once more. "She's got to be here."_  
_Harper head swiveled to the side as he watched a pretty brunette strut across the room, beers in hand. "I gotta go get this one!" he informed his friends, rising from the table. "See ya soon."_  
_  
Mueller chuckled and gave him a pat on the back as he watched the dark headed girl take the arm of another soldier. "Good luck with that!"_  
_Eugene said nothing but stared down into the amber depths of his beer. He was still pondering his last meeting with Tallulah, after chasing her out into the back alleyway, and after watching her leave with John Basilone.  
He didn't like John Basilone- she'd spent far too much time with him.  
Their pictures together were too perfect and too beautiful- as if they weren't just staged photos- as if something real actually lay behind the glossy surface of those posters. _  
_  
Eugene attempted to shove the images of his ex-fiancée clinging to the hero of Guadalcanal out of his mind, and picked up another shot of tequila to aid him in his efforts. Suddenly, cheers and clapping arose from the bar, as a platinum blonde stepped behind the counter, brandishing a bottle of rum. To a flutter of applause she uncorked the bottle and flashed the bar a dazzling smile. She raised her glass high in the air, and cocked a shoulder to the side. "First round on me?" _  
_More cheering ensued, as Essie Jo Adams began pouring free drinks all while grooving to the band playing on the stage. _  
_"Well whaddya know?" Mueller mused, pointed a finger towards the bar. "She is here…"_  
_Eugene took a steadying breath, as her brushed off the front of his uniform. "She looks happier than last time." _  
_Mueller shot him a snide little grin. "She ain't seem you here yet…" _

_"Excuse me, but, fuck you Captain."_  
_"Excused Private." _  
_Mueller's whisky sloshed around in his shotglass as he waved Eugene away, eager to see the scene unfold. He was so hoping for continuation of last week's drama, even if it meant seeing one of his privates chased out of the canteens by the MP's. _  
_Chuckling, Captain Mueller picked up the expose that the pretty brunette waitress had lent him, which reminded him that at one point Eugene Sledge had been engaged to marry the dazzling angel behind the bar. Mueller stared at Essie Jo Adams perfect figure, voluminous blonde curls, and bewitching smile, and shook his head. _  
_"Fuck you too Sledge."_  
_  
x.x.x.x _  
_  
"Geez he's persistent! It' ain't normal!" _  
_  
Teola glanced away from topping off a few beers, and turned to see Eugene Sledge marching towards the bar. Her eyes instantly widened, and ducked under the counter, pretending like she was searching for some other bottles. She fiddled with a couple cases of bourbon, while listening to the whispers behind her. _  
_  
"Persistent?" Echoed one girl, whose smoky voice Teola easily identified as Layla's. "Persistent has a good sound to it. Good guys are persistent. This guy is just stupid. Arrogant maybe."_  
_"I think it's sort of sad." Emily said, "He's obviously not over her. Hell, maybe he still loves her."_  
_Layla snorted, and downed an entire martini in one gulp. "He had his shot. And he blew it. And now, he's just a damn annoyance. To us and to her, cause he's either too dense or too arrogant to figure out that he isn't needed or wanted any more."_  
_Chandra piped in. "Am I supposed to get security?" _  
_Layla's dark eyes glared daggers at the man who was approaching the bar. "He can do that all by himself, if tonight goes anything like a few weeks ago."_  
_  
Teola's hands shook as she organized the assortment of sprit bottles in the cabinets. She'd been on the floor so long, it was as if the other girls had forgotten she was down there. But she was interested to see what they had to say about Eugene, that horrible deserter.  
In her entire life, Teola didn't ever think that she could have been angrier at a person that she was at Eugene Sledge. __  
H__e'd led Tallulah into a horrible addiction with Grey Goose and Cognac that hadn't yet been broken._  
_His decision to go off to war had cost her sister her happiness and her identity.  
__Not to mention actually costing the Adams family a significant amount of money- money they never should have spent.  
His decision to back out of the un-refundable wedding had almost cost Teola her chance to enroll at Alabama Polytechnic, instead of just heading straight to the mills.  
Teola had attempted to forget Eugene during the summer, when she saw Tallulah with Sidney, and until now, had thought her efforts successful._  
_  
"She needs to teach him a lesson." Stated Chandra, "I think you're right Layla. He needs to figure out that he can't just keep coming back to her."_  
_Layla poured herself another martini, and sucked it down quickly. "Kill him with kisses." She suggested. "That's the worst."_  
_In the reflection of the glass bottles, Tallulah could see wrinkles of concern appear on Emily's forehead.  
"Oh, now that's manipulative and mean…"_  
_"He deserves it." Quipped Chandra. _  
_Layla rested an arm on the bar, and her fingers drummed against the stick countertop. "She needs to let him follow her out back. Get his hopes up."_  
_Chandra's grin widened, while Emily looked even more unconvinced. _  
_"Get his hopes up?" The nervous girl asked. _  
_  
Layla nodded, a distracted motion that had little reassuring value. "Yeah, let him think that she still feels something. Give him a kiss, let him hold her hand… And then after that, don't contact him. Don't talk to him, just slip into silence. It's devastating."_  
_Chandra nodded. "That's just awful. But hey, it works."_  
_"Of course it works. But only if you do it right." Layla noted._  
_"Oh?"_  
_"You've got to deliberately ignore him after that. The phone line isn't down, and you haven't changed mailing addresses. _  
_No excuses, he has to know that he's being blatantly ignored. addresses."_  
_  
The longer the women talked in their hushed whispers about Eugene, the more Teola's buried hatred for the redheaded boy slowly came to the surface. Teola blinked at her reflection in a bottle of Cognac, once again comparing herself to her twin. When she was once again convinced that the difference between them was indistinguishable to none, she rose from the floor, prepared to stare Eugene Sledge in the eyes, and also prepared to take Layla's advice- to kill him with kisses, for Tallulah's sake. _

_x.x.x.x _

_He took the fact that there was actually an empty seat at the bar as a sign he was supposed to be there, and be close to Tallulah.  
The screech of the bar stool against the floor gained her attention, and she whirled around to face him, blonde curls flying. _  
_He'd practiced for this moment, the instant when their eyes met for the second time.  
He'd rehearsed the exact facial expression he'd wear when he finally met her wounded, prideful gaze.  
But when she turned to him, he was unable to shoot her the apologetic smile he'd wanted to because he was struck by just how beautiful she was in the dim light of the bar.  
The glowing of her platinum locks looked like a halo but the distanced stare in her eyes brought him back to reality.  
He cleared his throat, and watched her place a hand on her hip. _

_"What do you want to drink Eugene?"_  
_"Can I have a beer?"_  
_She nodded, and then turned to another one of the waitresses, speaking in a hushed tone that he couldn't understand. _  
_But he did understand her next action, as she snagged a bottle of rum, and began striding away from the bar area.  
He'd seen this all before. During their last disastrous meeting she'd done the exact same thing.  
She'd picked up a bottle, and bolted for the back door.  
Eugene cast a furtive glace in the direction of the security, and found that they were happily occupied talking to Rita Hayworth.  
With a nod to the waitress, he rose from the bar stool and darted after Tallulah. _  
_"You think she heard us?" Asked Emily, as she heard the slam of the back door, followed by heavy, rushing footsteps. _  
_Layla yawned and licked the salt off the rim of a margarita glass. "I hope so. Add some much needed spice to this evening huh?" _

_x.x.x.x_

_Unlike their last meeting, Tallulah wasn't drunk enough to trip down the stairs in those four inch heels that would have made even being tipsy treacherous. Also unlike their last meeting, Eugene had actually managed to grab her forearm without her jerking away.  
She collapsed unto the pavement, and leaned back against the grimy alley walls. _  
_Eugene cleared his throat before sitting down with her._  
_"Tallulah?" _  
_  
She glared up at him, her fingers curled so tightly around the neck of the rum bottle, it appeared she was strangling it. _  
_"What?"_  
_He gave her an easy smile, and hoped that she would release her death grip on the rum. "Thank you for letting me follow you back here."_  
_She said nothing, but shot a glance over her shoulder. _  
_"They'll come get you again." _  
_"Never caught me the first time." _  
_He scuffed his feet against the concrete that was littered with shattered pieces of glass, cigarette butts, and gasoline. _  
_"Tallulah, can I just tell you-"_  
_Before he could say anything else, even before he could offer the defense he'd been so prepared to give, Tallulah interrupted. _  
_  
"Shut up."_

_He obeyed her command, as she slung her arms around his neck, and pressed her lips to his with an angered fervor. _  
_He was taken aback at first, but soon leaned into her kiss and relished it. This was going exponentially better than he'd hoped.  
He'd thought it would have taken weeks to get her back. Maybe even months. But here she was, already accepting his kiss, even initiating it. _  
_Her tongue moved with his in an awkward rhythm he didn't quite remember.  
But he figured things would be a little different, it had been over a year after all.  
Almost two.  
His hands ran down her back, and up her sides, while her perfectly smooth nails scoured through his red hair._  
_He gave a little groan as she bit his lip. This night was certaintly going much better than expected. _  
_  
x.x.x.x_  
_Teola had to restrain herself from drawing blood as she clamped down on the lips of her sister's ex-finacee.  
She would have liked nothing better than to rip his entire face to shreds as retribution for all he'd done, and left undone.  
But she kept her kissing civil, letting their mouths move at a modest speed that indicated neither passion nor fervor.  
She kept her tongue dancing around the edges of her lips, as to not entice much reciprocation. _  
_She could see him reveling in her every loveless touch and in every desirous move she faked. And nothing pleased her more than to be breaking the heart of the man that had broken her twin's.  
The man that had cost the family a home, money, and forced a pair of sisters to take on an entirely new identity. _  
_She eyed the bottle of rum sitting on the concrete steps next to her, as she felt his horrible hands slipping lower. _  
_She wasn't a drinker, but she'd down that whole damn when this was over._  
_  
x.x.x.x _

The letter fell from Teola's hands, and fluttered down to the ground on the warm California breeze that blew in though the open window.  
Teola felt dizzy, and grasping to the edge of her bed, she sunk to the floor.

"What have I done?" She whispered to an empty room, as if she could actually expect an answer. "What the hell have I done?"


	28. A Time has Come Today

**Alright, yay for getting another chapter out before the week beings. Haha, a forewarning, things may see a little, ehh, cryptic at first, but just hang in there, and everything will make sense. Anyways, thanks so much to my super awesome reviewers, BloodUpontheRisers, Bertha Jorkins and AlishaofTroy :) I appreiciate your comments ever so much, and hope ya'll keep them coming! Your support keeps this thing going :)  
Alright, hope everyone enjoys! ****  
-Ellie**

"I think I really like your roommate…" Sidney whispered, pressing his lips to Tallulah's cheek.  
She rolled her eyes, as she rolled over onto her stomach feeling the scratch of the starchy sheets on her bare stomach.  
"You just like her because she isn't here." Tallulah accused, wagging a finger at him.  
He chuckled and pulled her atop him, and instantly she was ignited by the sensation of their bare chests sliding together.  
"That's exactly why I like her."

Giggling, Tallulah fingered his dogtags that draped across his slowly rising and falling chest.  
"Why do you like me?"  
He gave her a scolding smile, as he brushed his fingertips through her red curls. "I don't like you... I love you."  
She could feel her face flushing at his affectionate comments, comments she hadn't heard since the very end of July.  
"I love you too Sidney."

He lowered his chapped lips to cover hers, and Tallulah tasted the same sensuous mixture of salt and smoke she had only hours ago.  
When he finally pulled away from her, his lips upturned into an instant grin.  
A whining whimper served as her objection to the severing of their connected lips.  
He hopped off the bed and trotted over towards the corner where his baggy dungarees lay.  
She felt naked without him, as he ambled across the tiny cabin, and she tugged the rough sheets over her body.  
With an amused expression, she watched him hop around the bedroom as he attempted to pull his pants back on.

"Sidney?"  
"Hmm?" His answer was distracted as he fumbled with his zipper.  
"Where are you going?"  
He motioned to the tiny porthole window, out of which Tallulah could see the first flecks of golden light in the grey clouds.  
"Back to the Island." He noted, "Or they'll count me AWOL."  
"Ain't you been AWOL this whole night?"  
He gave her a devilish grin, as if he could leer the questions away. "Maybe…"  
"Then what's the rush?"

Seeing that his glare wasn't shutting her up, he strode across the room and kissed her into quietness, quelling the words with the touch of his lips.  
"This morning is different. I, uhh, need to be there for roll call."  
"They didn't check to see who was back last night after inoculations?"  
"They'll check this morning."  
Scoffing, Tallulah turned from him and waved a flippant hand in the air. "Go then. I'm busy. I've got work to do."  
His tanned arms wrapped around her slender, naked figure, pressed a set of kisses into her smooth shoulders.  
"Liar. All your patients left yesterday."  
There was that word again.  
That word that had followed her around more in the Navy than anywhere else.  
She was starting to suspect that there might have been something to that claim.

"I've got some work to do."  
"And I've got to get back to the Island."  
"Liar."  
He gave her a beseeching glance, his sandy head shaking.  
"Aw, Tal. Don't you be angry now."  
"I ain't angry. I just wish you'd tell em why you're running off to that damn base so fast." She glanced up at him, a finger between her lips as she bit her nails. "I was gonna make you some breakfast since it's early and no one will be in the galley."  
The thought of sizzling bacon, frying eggs and steaming a steaming pile of pancakes cause him to visibly wince.  
But he shook his head as he attempted to plant a final kiss to Tallulah's forehead.  
"I've really got to go Tal."

She plopped down on the bed and folded her arms. She didn't mean to be selfish, she wanted nothing but the best for him.  
But at the back of her mind, like an annoying tap on the head, was the reminder of the pending invasion of some other atoll.  
The scuttlebutt she'd heard from most of the soldiers, sailors and marines was that they'd be steaming out no later than Sunday and no sooner than tomorrow.  
"You know-"  
He finished shrugging on his vest, and squeezed her hand.  
"I know."  
Her eyebrows furrowed as she felt hot tears spring to her eyes- he obviously didn't know.  
"So when will I see you again?"  
"Soon." He promised, his voice drawling over the word, as if by lengthening the syllables he could lengthen their time together. "You'll see me soon."  
With that, he bounded out the door, fingering the pebble in his pocket, while his eyes scanned the foyer for Hisako.

x.x.x.x

His bare feet padded against the cool concrete creating that muffled tapping which reminded him he was walking on solid ground.  
He'd searched the holds of the Solace for Hisako all morning, winding through narrow passageways and jogging across the broad galley.  
He desperately tried to remember anything about her appearance, which he had cared so little about during her untimely appearance in the exam room. He'd been too spellbound, too enchanted by the panting blonde he had pressed to the table, to notice anything much about the annoying intruder.  
Except when he was finally able to tear his feasting eyes off Tallulah, and turn his attention to the other nurse, he was unable to isolate one standout feature or recognizable trait.  
Her dark, upturned eyes, her inky black hair, he porcelain skin- it all blurred into one a recognizable effigy, and culminated in his utterance of "Jap."

He was ashamed of it now, how quickly he had been to equate black hair and black eyes with one race, and how impulsively he had categorized that race as evil. He was embarrassed at how he'd hurled the term at her, the term that named all of those bastards he'd fought on the Canal and on Gloucester, those bastards that had bombed pearl harbor, those bastards that had killed Manny, and those bastards that continually kept him an just an ocean away from Tallulah.

Hisako was just a nurse cursed with having the iconic physical traits of those Asiatic.  
But it he that had failed to make the distinction.  
Failed to see past something he had come to recognize and associate with the war, with the fighting, with dying.  
But it he who was blinded by a fearful prejudice that had caused him to look down upon Tallulah's friend, and a Navy Nurse.  
And it was he who was slowly realizing with that the war had affected him more than he would ever admit.  
Sidney was jolted from his thoughts when he saw a flash of white in the corner of his vision.  
He whirled around, not bothering to notice huge steel vessels that whistled and steamed all around him.

"Miss Hayashi?" He called, maneuvering past a hole in the floor from where steam spurted upwards.  
The figure, that had been retreating through the humid mist which hung low like a cloud over the entire room, turned around.  
"Private Phillips?"  
He bounded over to her, careful to avoid the cloud of hot steam gushing from vents in the floor.  
"Miss Hayashi, I've been looking everywhere for you!" He told her, extending a friendly hand.  
She gave a small nod, and took his hand with an appropriate reluctance. "It's Lieutenant."  
He gave an sheepish grin, exposing his teeth in an effort to extract her sympathy.  
"Lieutenant Hayashi, my mistake."  
"What are you doing in the boiler room?" Her eyes demanded an answer, a penance for catching up with her.  
He chuckled, "Like I said, I've been looking everywhere for you."  
She didn't seem amused by his joke, and removed her hand from his, uncomfortable with the perspiration pooling in their palms.  
"And what can I help you with?"

He had no better way of saying it. He had no way to lead into the subject, no good transition.  
So he simply leaned closer to her, and whispered.  
She shrank back at his proposition, her eyes stinging from how much they had widened.

"It's illegal." Hisako muttered. "It's not permitted in the Core."  
"I doubt she'd care. I bet half-"  
"I don't ask."  
"Would you even consider?"  
"I think you should think this over Private Phillips. It's shouldn't be an impulsive decision."  
"I've been thinking about it since June."  
"Three months isn't much time."  
"It's enough."

Hisako sighed, and drummed her fingers on a metal pole.  
Sidney could see the pressure rising up inside her like it was inside the boiler.  
Except the boiler could blow over, it could release the steam.  
It appeared that Hisako had no such outlet.

"What would I have to do for you?"  
Again, Sidney leaned closer to her and his reply was almost muted by the screaming of the release valves.  
She pulled away once more, and Sid could feel her studying his face- trying to derive everything about his morals, his intentions and his character in one sweeping gaze.  
Finally she looked him in the eye, and nodded. "Alright."  
"Alright?" He echoed, his voice rising in excitement.  
He couldn't believe he'd convinced her.  
"Alright." She concluded, gesturing him away. "Now stop being AWOL on the Solace. Get yourself back to Pavavu where you belong."  
He grinned his thanks, and turned to go, but lingered a moment in the doorway.  
"Can I ask why are you down here Lieutenant?"  
She didn't even turn back to look at him but her tired voice somehow carried through the thick bands of steam that stalked the room.

"No more questions Private…"

x.x.x.x

Eugene kicked over the oil drum, angry at the black slick that coated his forearms.  
"Why the hell are we doing this anyways?" He wondered aloud, "Is anyone ever gonna use these barrels for anything other than oil anyways."

"Probably not."

Eugene turned around to face the unfamiliar voice, wanting to see its owner.  
The man that stood before him was dressed like Sidney.  
He only wore a stained green vest, his dogtags, and a pair of dungarees rolled up to make shorts.  
He looked like every other Marine that had been here for a while, and Eugene could tell by his russet tan that he wasn't a new recruit.  
But when Eugene glanced down at the man's feet, and saw him wearing a worn pair of moccasins- he instantly knew the man's identity.  
He'd heard stories of this machine gunner.  
But not fables of him carrying a sizzling browning through the jungle that left him with third degree burns and a Medal of Honor.

He'd heard stories of this guy writing a constant stream of letters to some girl named Vera, while fucking an aussie named Stella.  
He'd heard stories of him taking back his stolen chest from an officer's tent, and dumping the Lieutenant's underwear in the mud.  
He'd heard stories of him shitting out peaches.  
And of course, he was the only marine that continually wore a pair of rotted moccasins he'd swiped from an Army Captain.  
Reading the name screened across his vest only confirmed what Eugene had already figured out.  
This was Robert Leckie.

Eugene gave him a respectful nod, and extended an oil covered hand. "Private Leckie."  
Leckie eyed the younger man's outstretched hand, while digging around in his dungaree pocket.  
Finally, he pulled out at pack of cigarettes, extracted two, and then dropped one into Eugene's hand.  
"Have a smoke will ya?"  
Eugene stared down at the cigarette in his hand, and shook his head. "Thanks, but I don't smoke."  
Leckie chuckled, and rummaged round in his pocket again.  
"Have a saltine…" He offered, placing a small pack of crackers in Eugene's hand.  
"Thanks." Eugene said, pocketing the pack of crackers for later.

Leckie struck at his lighter and then lifted it to his cigarette. "Scrubbing drums eh?"  
Eugene nodded, and glared down at the sick sludge that had wedged underneath his fingernails. "Yep. Did you ever have to?"  
Leckie shook his head full of frizzy brown curls. "Nah. I got here and the fighting started."  
"No time to scrub drums huh?"  
"Saving Guadalcanal trumps cleaning oil barrels."  
Eugene chuckled. "Ain't you in the platoon with Sidney Phillips?"  
Leckie nodded. "Ain't you the kid Ack-Ack caught attacking him the other week?"  
Eugene felt embarrassment flush to his face. "Old friends."  
Leckie scratched his head with the same hand that held the cigarette Eugene waited for his curls to burst into nicotine flames.

"Speaking of Johnny Reb…" Leckie pondered. "Where the hell is that guy?"  
Eugene shrugged. "Last time I saw him was the other day. He was heading to the Solace for a vaccine."  
Snickering, Leckie stuffed the cigarette to between his lips. "Ah, that explains it. Probably found him a cute nurse of something."  
Eugene's eyebrows furrowed. "Yeah, well, isn't he considered AWOL by now?"  
Leckie snorted. "I've been AWOL since leaving Melbourne."  
"Really?"  
"Really. They don't even keep track anymore. They quit trying."  
"So Sid could probably stay there for days?"  
"Until the next invasion. As long as he shows up for combat, no one cares."

Eugene stared out at the Solace wondering what his friend was actually doing.  
He wondered if there was anything good to eat.  
Maybe he'd try to slip off to that boat sometime.  
"Don't get any ideas Kid." Leckie warned, tapping his cigarette to release the ashes. "You're still a recruit. They care where you are."  
Eugene snorted, and Leckie turned to leave.  
"Where ya going?" He asked, not wanting to bend over the oil drums again.

Leckie tossed his cigarette into the hot sand. "AWOL."

x.x.x.x

Tallulah tossed a clipboard into a stack of them that had piled up on the counter in her station.  
She thumbed through a few more charts, reading the upcoming ailments she would treat. "Jungle rot, enuresis, open sore, broken finger…"  
An interesting lineup for the evening.  
Like she had only yesterday, Hisako burst through the curtain once more.  
Tallulah whirled around, and shot her roommate a smile.

"Better than last time?" She joked.  
"You have your clothes on at least."  
"I had my clothes on last time."  
"On. But not functioning."

Tallulah broke into laughter, and the same laughter that bubbled from her mouth, sprang to Hisako's strident eyes.  
Hisako took her hand, and pulled her towards the door.  
"I need you to come with me."  
Tallulah's red brows bent. "Where are we going?"  
Hisako delivered her famously infuriating reply. "You will see."  
"Really, Saki, you can't tell me where we're going?"  
"Sworn to silence."  
"By whom?"

Hisako said nothing, but tugged on her hand and pulled her out the door.  
She spied another nurse, and pointed towards her. "Nurse Conner, please take over station five."  
The girl looked horrified, but she nodded in obedience to her lieutenant. "Mam."  
Hisako waved her away and commanded Tallulah to hurry.  
Mystified, Tallulah followed Hisako through narrow halls and dank passageways she hadn't known existed.  
After climbing up sets upon set of vertical stairs, the girls arrived on the stern of the ship.  
"We're leaving the boat?" Tallulah asked aloud, astounded by the idea.  
Hisako nodded, and Tallulah watched as a marine saluted her roommate as she strode towards the ladder.  
"And we're going where?"  
Hisako gave her a smile that almost glittered in the blush of the evening's light. "You will see."

x.x.x.x

"This isn't Pavuvu…" Tallulah noted, as Hisako maneuvered the little boat into the shallows of another island.  
There were no barracks, no machinery, and no marines befouling the beach.  
As Tallulah stared at the pure shores of this other island, she began to suspect Hisako's mission was anything but medical.  
"I thought we we're going to be doing some work on the officers on Pavuv."  
Hisako shook her head, cringing at the secretive information she was about to reveal. "No time. The officers are already planning for the move out tomorrow."  
Tallulah's reply was a squeak- a frightened noise that dignified and stoic Hisako would have been incapable of producing.  
"Tomorrow?"  
Her roommate nodded, and delivered a swift response, able to face the word with either much more courage or apathy than Tallulah. "Yes tomorrow…"

Tallulah grasped to a railing on the small dingy, her fingers wrapping around anything that could anchor her against an assault of fears and doubts.  
She squeezed her eyes shut, willing the tears to stay inside the confines of her braced eyelids.  
She wouldn't even get to tell him goodbye.  
She wouldn't even get to tell him she loved him again.  
She might not even get to see him again- let alone kiss him, hold him, talk with him, or make love to him.  
She could see trails of steaming blood leading to his body, slain in the sand. She could see a bullet ripping right through his unprotected chest.  
She could see a dark coffin with a flag draped over it, much like that of Denise, the dead nurse. And much like her daughter, Tallulah could see herself clawing at the casket, her nails ripping the red, white and blue fabric of the flag.

Her eyes shot open in an attempt to rid herself of his lifeless image, but still, the scenery around her reminded her of him.  
She saw his smile in the curve of each cresting wave that broke over the lagoon shallows.  
The golden whisps of clouds that swirled around in the sky reminded her of the breeze tousling his blonde curls. And as she stared down into the sapphire sea below her, she saw the only sort of depth that rivaled calm shallows of the lagoon, she saw the only depth of water that could possibly fathom the deepness in his blue eyes.

She watched a few children wearing nothing but their sunkissed skin dive into the ocean.  
"This certaintly isn't Pavuv."  
"No it isn't." Hisako replied, "This is Banika."  
Tallulah's gaze swept across the sandy beach, and she blinked at a figure that stood on the shore.  
"And what's on Banika?"  
"Tibal peoples mostly." Hisako replied, nodding towards the children, "Not too much else."  
"We're doing Malaria stuff right?" Tallulah asked, although she was tired of asking questions. Her entire conversation with Hisako had been a series of inquires that Hiskao refused to answer.  
"No. We're not doing malaria pills or boosters or vaccines."  
"Then what the hell are we doing?"  
Hisako pulled the key from the ignition, and cut off the motor. "We're not doing anything. But you are…"

Tallulah was about to scream, to yell, to shriek, to throw herself overboard to escape Hisako's vague responses, when she saw a blonde haired boy jogging down the beach.  
He wore no shirt, but had strips of white cloth wrapped around his hips to make a skirt-like garment.  
As he ran strings of colorful blossoms bounced against his chest, and Tallulah couldn't help but notice his dogtags that flashed in the sunlight.

"Sidney?" She breathed in disbelief as she climbed out of the boat.  
She picked up her skirt, and stumbled through the knee-deep water until she reached the sand where she flung herself into Sid's awaiting arms.  
"Sidney?"  
"Yes?"  
"What the hell are you wearing?" She took sputtered breaths between the relentless kisses from magnetic lips neither had control over. "What are you here? What the hell are you doing?"

He seized her lips once more, fervently, before grabbing her hand.  
He gave her a grin, pure joy glinting off each tooth as her stared down at her, before he dropped onto one meaningful knee in the sand.  
"I'm asking you to marry me…"  
Tallulah felt her knees buckling and she sunk into the sand just like he had. She pressed a hand to the bodice of her uniform, trying to feel if she still had any remains of a heartbeat.  
"You're doing what?" She rasped, all her breath escaping her.  
He grabbed her forearms in an attempt to regain her waning attention, so that maybe, just maybe, she would listen to his desperate sting of speech.

"I'm not going to waste another day waiting to ask you to spend every single tomorrow with me Tallulah." She stared into the unfathomable depth of his sea colored eyes, and found that they begged her to keep listening.  
"I made a mistake not marrying you this summer. I made a mistake not marrying you yesterday. I made the mistake of telling myself that there was always tomorrow."

Her breathing was rapid, her chest heaving as if his words caused her an immense amount of physical exertion.  
"But there isn't always tomorrow." He concluded. "If tomorrow never comes, then I want to know that I didn't wait any longer. I wanted to know that I asked you, that I showed you what you meant to me. I want to know that I didn't wait any longer."

He blinked up at her, his eyes stinging from staring up at. "I want you to know that a time has come today. A time for me to ask you something I've been dying to ask you since we got back to Mobile…" From his pocket, her produced two identical ivory colored rings. He held out the smooth band to her, blinking against the harsh hues of the sunset that had not yet faded into delicate evening light. He watched her swollen eyes blink back tears as she stared down at the ring, a more permanent alternative to one he had carved her in the summer.

"Tallulah Kendall Adams, will you-"

She'd heard enough, he'd convinced her of his love and his intentions the second she'd met his gaze this evening.  
In one swift movement, she had tackled him the sand and soon they became a flurry of tangling legs and grasping arms.  
Her lips crashed into his, and the words 'marry me' dissolved into the wet heat of their mingled mouths.  
Their tongues writhed together, creating loving patterns that said more than any sentence.  
In each hand he cupped her flushing cheeks as if they were precious jewels, and her fingers traced patterns onto the skin of his bare back, making designs more intricate than any type of lace.  
They finally pulled away, her teeth clutching a bit of his lip until she could no longer hold on without tearing his skin.  
The little bleached streaks that served as his eyebrows rose in expectation, as he stared down at her. "Tallulah?"

Her speech didn't falter this time, as they had with Eugene.  
When she stared up at the blonde boy who lay atop her, the boy who electrified her body, understood her soul, and eased her mind- she knew exactly what she wanted to say.  
In fact, her words were militarized.  
They surged forward, the armed syllables stinging her throat, as they demanded an instantaneous release.  
Her response flew out in the form of a panted conviction, as she grabbed Sidney's dogtags and a handful of flower leis that draped around his neck.  
She tugged downwards on the chains and the strings, inching his lips towards hers.

"Hell yes."


	29. Heaven and Hell

**Alright guys, I'm sure this thing is slam full of typos, mistakes and edits, but I'm leaving for a trip tomorrow, and so i know I wouldn't get a chance to post this until like, New Year. So I figured ya'll would take it hot off the press :)  
Just a few notes- I changed something crucial in chapter 19- Octane. I had Tal's dad walk in on our two lovebirds before they could actually, uhh, get down to business ;) It just helped the story fit together better.  
Anywho, thanks so much to my regulars, BloodUpontheRisers, BerthaJorkins and AlishaofTroy- I appreciate your comments ever so much.  
A happy hoidays and merry Chirstmas,  
And to all a good night!**

Peace,  
EllieMayy  


"So, I just have one more question to ask you."

Tallulah's eyebrows furrowed, at the separation of their lips, which had been plastered together for quite some time now.  
her eyes flickered up towards his, and she admired the turquoise flecks in his iris.  
"What?" The question was clipped, fast and hurried. The longer she spoke coherently, the longer their lips had to remain apart.  
He broke away from her, peeling her fingers away.  
She groaned in protest, and tried to pull him back towards her with a yank on his flower chain.  
"Tallulah Kendall Adams, will you-"  
She gave him a little glare. "I already said yes.""  
"Will you marry me right now?"

She could feel her heart jumping towards her throat, and for the second time that evening she clutched her chest.  
She stared into his cavernous blue eyes, and realized everything she had ever wanted was only inches away from her.  
Only one word away.  
Only one vow away.  
Except they were only ocean away from where they should have been- home in Alabama.  
But as she stared at him, it dawned on her- home was the two of them. Home wasn't a place but a combination of persons.  
And she had found her person. The person she'd waited on. The person Eugene never could have been.  
But it was illegal.

She'd been briefed on this during her training in California. It was against Navy law for a nurse to marry while she was in the service.  
They wanted her married only to the core and to her duties.  
She watched the setting sun dip deeper into the sea it had dyed blood red, and watched the black shadows creep across the beach.  
And she thought of the tomorrow watched they might never have.  
Her lips curved into a smile, revealing her answer before she could even open her mouth.  
And suddenly, her back was grinding against the sand once more, as his lips came to cover hers.  
He finally pulled away from her, their lips jerking apart with a loud pop.

"So if we ever make it off this beach-" He leaned in to press his lips to her cheek. "I can marry you."  
Her grin was broader and more vast than the sweeping horizon before them. "You're going to marry me!" She exclaimed, feeling tears springing to her eyes.  
He squeezed her hand. "I'm going to marry you."  
He rose from the sand, and offered her his hand to help her up. "And I'm going to do it right now."  
He took her hand and lead her a few steps up the beach, where a group of islander women had gathered.  
They all smiled excitedly at Sid, their eyes wide with expectation.

Sid gave them all a smile. "Siya ay sinabi yes."  
there was a smattering round of applause from the women, who rushed up to take Tallulah's hand and shake it.  
"What did you tell them?" Tallulah asked, as a woman squeezed her hand, speaking rapidly.  
His lips parted to reveal nothing more than a smile of pure joy. "I told them you said yes."  
Tallulah laughed, and nodded her head at the congratulations from the women. A girl her own age approached her, and took her hand. "Come, we will dress you for the wedding."  
Tallulah blinked. When Sid had said now- he really had meant now!

She smiled at the girl, and allowed herself to be lead away from Sidney, towards a small hut-like structure.  
As they walked Tallulah studied her guide. She had beautiful black hair that curled down to the small of her back. Her skin was the perfect, indescribable shade of tan that girls back in Hollywood would have killed for. She had bewitchingly dark eyes that matched her hair, and she wore a grass skirt low on her hips that swished when she moved. She looked like the stupid character, Helene, Tallulah had played in that damn movie, To Have and Have not.  
The girl pulled back the flap to the hut, and gestured for Tallulah to come inside. Inside the hut were bowls of different colored blossoms, and a large, white piece of cloth.  
The girl glanced at her, her warm brown eyes friendly.

"I'm Aka'ula." She said, picking up the white fabric. "And you must be Tallulah."  
Tallulah nodded, curious at how the girl knew her name. "I am."  
Aka'ula placed a hand on of the buttons to tallulah's dress. "May I?"  
Tallulah smiled at her, "Of course."  
As Aka'ula undressed her, she began talking again, probably to relieve the possible awkwardness of the situation.  
"Sidney has been coming here since he was stationed on Pavuvu."  
Ah, that explained it.  
"And Robert Leckie, he's been coming even longer."  
"Really?"  
Aka'ula nodded, as Tallulah's dress fell to the floor. "The village loves them both, so it was very important to us when Sidney said that he was going to bring you here."  
Tallulah laughed. "Of course I was the only one who didn't know about this little plan.  
Aka'ula took the large piece of fabric and began wrapping it around Tallulah's body.  
"Everyone was praying you would say yes. We need a wedding here." Aka'ula draped the cloth over one of Tallulah's shoulders, while leaving the other one bare. "It's been very hard having the war so close."

Tallulah glanced around the dimly lit hut and noticed another grass skirt in the corner, a hairbrush lying on a large piece of driftwood, and doll sitting on the little bed. She couldn't imagine having the war this close to her own home.  
"It must be very difficult." She said, her tone drenched in sympathy. "I can't imagine it."  
Aka'ula wrapped the fabric around Tallulah's bottom, but kept the entirety of her back bare, before tucking the end of cloth neatly away into a fold she'd already created. "It is not always so bad. Especially now!" She gave a dazzling smile. "My people love weddings."  
"Who doesn't love a good wedding!" Tallulah agreed. "good food, dancing."  
Aka'ula gave a devilish smile. "Good drinking."  
Tallulah shot Aka'ula a sinful smile. "Good…" Her voice trailed off and both girls howled with laughter at the implications.  
Aka'ula's skilled fingers interweaved pink blossoms into Tallulah's red curls, and afterwards placed a veil over her.  
When she had finished, she rummaged in a small chest and pulled out a fragment of a broken mirror. She held it up, and grinned at Tallulah. "What do you think?"

Tallulah stared at her reflection in the cracked glass. It certaintly wasn't how she had expected to be dressed at her wedding. There was no pair of tedious heels, or corset that restricted her breathing in order to push her breasts up to her chin. She didn't wear a large hoopskirt gown, with itchy tulle flying everywhere that made her resemble some type of pastry. Her hair hadn't been done into an arrangement that would have ignited in the presence of a candle due to excessive amounts of hairspray. Instead, she had no corset and no shoes. Her hair was loose and free, dotted with blossoms. She didn't wear a dress, but a simply piece of white cloth draped She wore a simple piece of white cloth, that draped elegantly into an airy garment that wound around one shoulder, and dipped dangerously low to reveal her bare back.

"I love it." Tallulah whispered, finding everything in her reflection fitting and perfect for the occasion. "I don't know how you did it. I love it."  
Ata'ula grinned, "I am so glad."  
Suddenly, Tallulah heard high voices singing in an alien and yet beautiful way. Clapping accompanied the strange singing, and the rhythmic melody caused Ata'ula to jump.  
"Oh, it's time!" She exclaimed. "It's what you would call, the uh, Wedding March."  
"Oh!" Tallulah gasped, as Ata'ula helped her out of the hutch.

The two girls ran out of the hut, and Tallulah picked up the edges of her dress to avoid tripping on the long folds of fabric. The harmonizing voices of the choir edged her on, and even though the words were foreign, and the combination of the syllables strange, there was something common in them that she could understand. There was joy in singing voices, and celebration in their pitch.  
Ata'ula lead her until they reached a channel of people who clapped and applauded for her.  
"Walk between everyone, until you get to the altar. Then just follow along."  
Tallulah squeezed her hand. "Thank you!"

Ata'ula shot her another dazzling smile, before slipping into the crowd of people, and joining in the celebratory song.  
With tears in her eyes, Tallulah walked up an aisle made of sand whiter than any carpet. Lined with people she'd never met- but somehow felt she knew so well. People who rejoiced in her marriage to Sidney, rather than condemning it as those in Mobile would have done. Walking down the shore towards him was an out of body experience, the kind she'd heard some people have when they are dying. She couldn't feel her feet as she strode across the sand, and she couldn't feel the tug of her dress as it lagged behind her. The breeze that barreled down the beach pulled her fiery curls behind her, and loosed a few blossoms from her hair. The sky had been painted in perfect sunset colors, but she didn't notice it. All she could see was Sidney, standing there waiting for her, waiting for her with a promise of eternity. A promise he'd restored and purified, after Eugene had fouled forever.  
She reached the driftwood altar, her emerald eyes ablaze with warmth. He grinned at her, exposing dimples that looked like they had been cut by daggers. He reached for her, and her small hand melted into his.  
She glanced down at the simple driftwood alter, upon which, lay their whale-bone rings.

"Minamahal…" her attention was called upward by the sound of a booming voice. She glanced up into the face of a beaming man whose face was etched with millions of smile lines.  
Sid leaned into her for only a moment, before he received a harsh glare from the minister. "Minamahal… Dearly beloved." Sid repeated.  
Tallulah nodded, and lowered her head, listening to the pastor's ceremony. The words went on, and Tallulah found herself unable to take her eyes of Sidney, unable to focus on anything but him.  
The beautiful blue of the crashing surf paled in comparison to his eyes.  
The golden streaks of light in the sky were duller than his blonde curls, which had grown even longer and more non-regulation.  
The whispering of the breeze in the palm trees was no match for his comforting breath sliding across her blushing cheeks, murmuring the words of the ceremony into her ear.  
The words were songlike in nature, rising and falling like the tides, sweeping and settling like the wind, although less so in English.

Presently, the Priest motioned towards the rings that lay atop the attractive piece of flotsam. Speaking in a low tone, he nodded towards Sidney, who picked up the whalebone ring, and slipped it around Tallulah's scarred finger She smiled as the smooth band settled at the bottom of her finger, where she knew it would stay forever. It didn't glare up at her, full of glittering implications like the diamond Eugene had given her. Her new ring was off white, natural and simple. It held a quiet formality, which was self-assured, instead of pronouncing- and she loved it. She slid the other ring around his calloused fingers, unable to stifle a smile as she secured him forever as hers.

She jolted from staring down at the ring, when the priest's voice boomed, "Maaari mong halik ang babae."  
Sid smiled down at her, his hands anxiously reaching for her veil. "He said I can kiss my bride…"  
She stared up at him, ready to have his fingers that toyed with the edges of her veil, engaged with other parts of her body.  
"Then kiss me…"

Suddenly, his arms wrapped around her back, his fingers spreading out to touch as much of her as he could. His mouth descended upon hers, and she closed her eyes and savored the caress of his breath. Their lips brushed modestly in front of the crowd. And then they were kissing, no longer aware of the crowd at all. The movements were slow at first because in that exact moment, it was just her lips and his lips, and they had all the time in the world. And then it dawned on them that they only had until tomorrow, until Sid shipped out for some other island, and his lips moved faster to make up for the time they'd already lost. When he finally pulled away, the congregation of islanders erupted into whooping, cheering and a smashing round of applause. The celebratory songs began again, the haunting voices of the islander children wafted high into the sunkissed sky.  
But not nearly as high as Tallulah's spirits, as she took the hand of her new husband.

She was soaring.

x.x.x.x  
"My wife… My wife… My wife…"

Sid's words were sweeter than his lips that trailed up and down her bare back, sewing kisses into her sinuous spine.  
Tallulah rolled over in the sand, her green eyes glinting in delight as his lips brushed over her body.  
"My husband…" She smiled up at him, and even in the cool twilight she could feel the heat pooling in her cheeks. The deep, blue light surrounded the island, and the last rays of the sun had slowly crept behind the black waves on the horizon. The wind skimmed off the dark water, and the waves lapped at the shore, making a rhythmic beating.

"Can you believe it?" He mused, letting his fingers trace down the arc of her slender arm. "We're married."  
She gave a happy sigh that floated out into the evening air. "Doesn't it seem like just yesterday that we were driving home to Alabama?"  
"When I was singing to you?"  
"When I was driving all night?"  
"When you almost killed us?"  
She made a halfhearted to whack him, but was easily distracted as he took her flailing hand and kissed it.  
"I did no such thing…"  
He grinned down at her, relishing the memories. "And then, going out to the farm?"  
"And sleeping with you?"  
He squeezed her hand. "Do you remember?"  
How could she possibly forget those hot afternoons they spent sighing, sweating and sleeping in the scruff grass. How could she forget their first kiss?  
She nodded. "Of course. Do you remember the shed?"  
He grinned at the game of hide and seek, "Couldn't forget."  
Their hands clasped together again, and Sid rolled over onto his back. "And then that horrible?"

She knew what he was talking about, the night she'd shown up at his doorstep to find him attacking everything in sight- walls, sheets, bedposts.  
She glanced over at him, and saw his eyes were clouded with a covering of terror.  
She pressed her finger to his lips.  
"Shush." She commanded, determined to ward off the workings of his damaged subconscious. "We don't have to talk about it…"  
He grinned, as if to assure her of his wellness. "But tonight is so much better. Look at that sky Tallulah!"

She glanced up towards the heavens. The stars had never looked any brighter and the moon had never seemed so large, as in that moment when she lay on the beach with Sidney. And as she stared up at the inky darkness, she realized- stars. It was night. Night had fallen, when only moments ago it had been dusk. Time was passing, and it was passing far too fast.  
She rose from the sand, empowered by an overpowering sense of urgency.  
She whirled around to face him, undoing her dress as she did so.

"And do you remember this?"  
The white drapes of her wedding gown fell to the ground, and he groaned as she stood before him, wearing nothing more than mere moonlight. His eyes glided effortlessly over her every exposed curve and muscle that was bathed in the ghostly moonlight. Even after eighteen years of living by the sea, the aroma of salt water had never smelled so exhilarating as right now, when he caught her sweet scent mingling with the seabreeze. She smiled at him, lips sliding into a sinful curve that urged him to come closer. At that moment, as he watched her slender legs flex in the sand, and that ungodly smile flit across her lips- he unable to remain an observer. He wanted to touch her, to feel her, to kiss her, to fuck her.  
He'd wanted it for so long.  
He jumped up from the sand, and strode forward, desire rendering him driven and unstoppable.

Suddenly, she was in his arms, and they were backing up and up, waiting to hit something they could fall back upon. Like static, they bounced back, as if shocked by the attraction, and force of their own lips .  
But then like magnets, they were pulled back into one kiss unable and unwilling to fight the other's lure. Unable to fight nature. Unable to fight fate. Their lips plastered together, and he kept striding towards her, but there was no bed to fall back upon, and instead their hurrying legs tangled, and they toppled into the pounding surf. They lay at the edge of the water, little waves lapping up to cover their naked bodies like fluid, aquatic sheets. Their hands were everywhere, their lips were everywhere, their sweat was everywhere, the water was everywhere and the sand was everywhere.  
But it didn't matter how hard they kissed- morning was still coming.  
It didn't' matter how many times she told him she loved him- dawn would break.  
And this time, the night would not end without her showing him the full illustration of her love.

"Sidney…" She pleaded, her voice high and begging.  
"I won't last, Tal." He admitted, his voice a warning growl, as her pulled himself from her, grimacing.  
"I don't care…" She whispered, consenting, compromising, willing to do anything to join their bodies together.

"Sidney…" She moaned, as she felt something swelling between her. His hands flew to her shoulders, and he pulled himself tighter to her. She knew the maneuver, she knew what was coming next- and she gave a little gasp in excited expectation.  
The motion reminded her of so much, yet pleasured her to the extent of forgetting.  
She felt his grasp compressing, as his hips were pulled closer to hers, forcing out any seawater that served to separate them.  
He gave a small thrust, and she let out a startled cry at the filling pressure. But the sweet lull and drawl of his calming words settled her, and she relaxed back into the wet sand.

And after the initial pain of the first thrust came the most pleasuring cadence of sweeping pushes. He was breathing hard, grunting, as he struggled to cling to her slick shoulders. Each thrust was more enjoyable than the last, and her mouth hung open in pure delight. Her nails dug deep into his curved back, and etched pleading little trenches into the taut, tanned skin that stung from the sea spray. His body curled around and engulfed her, while the heaving ocean surrounded them both. His back arched and hips dropped as he gave quick, beating pushes that left chanting sweet encouragements in his ear. Shells from the shore scraped against her backside, and her desperate fingers curled around fistfuls of sopping wet sand. His open lips grazed her cheek, and his hot breath brushed against her once cool skin.

Her damp eyelashes batted against his sweaty forehead, as his hands clutched tightly to her rocking hips. "For me Sidney." She begged, as her own back bent at the height of her satisfaction. Her red curls were pasted to her back, dripping saltwater and their sweat.  
In ecstasy, she smiled up into the dark sky, teeth gleaming in the moonlight.  
She was riding him.  
She was riding a wave.  
No, she was the cresting wave.

"Sidney, please. For me?"  
He could hardly protest against the persuasive harmony of her inviting moans. He could only mutter, "Oh God, Tal," as his trusts became slower and more scraping.  
She craved validation from his body, and she found her reassurance as his back went completely rigid, every muscle straining.  
Her head tilted upwards in pure pleasure, as she was filled with her own personal brand of fuel, while his head dropped low, signaling his finality as his back finally relaxed.  
He collapsed atop her, exhausted, sweaty, sandy and soaking wet. He planting grateful kisses everywhere his adoring lips could reach.

And they were washed back up onto the beach by the same waves that had lured them into an amorous ocean.  
Moments later, she lay with her head atop his slick, bare chest, his arms wrapped protectively around her midriff. She could hear the hammering of his heart still racing from their passionate exertion. There no murmurs- no hesitations in it's steady pounding.  
"Sidney?" She called quietly, wondering if he was still even awake. "You still here?"  
To her surprise, he shook his head. Without bothering to open his eyes, he planted a kiss to the top of her head, a pathway his lips had memorized. "No." He breathed. "I'm in heaven."

x.x.x.x  
He couldn't hear anything over the blaring of the sirens and the crackling of the loudspeaker that filled the dark launching hold of the ship.  
An officer was calling squads and companies to different amtracs, while sergeants yelled at their privates to do ridiculous things, like straiten their belt or fasten their helmet- anything to take their minds off the impending invasion. In dark belly of the ship, the shrill ringing of signal bells pierced the low growling of the ships industrious engines. He walked up to Eugene who was intently watching the loading of the boats.  
He placed a hand on his friend's shoulder, and leaned towards his ear. "  
"Once we get out there, your gonna do one thing, and one thing only: follow me."  
The quiet command somehow squeezed between the much louder sounds of ringing and rumbling.  
Eugene nodded, although it was obvious that the lighting of the green bulb next to their boat distracted him.  
Sid's hand clamped down on his shoulder, demanding attention. "Don't follow the captain, and don't follow your C.O- follow me."  
Sidney knew that following someone was important in battle. He didn't know how he would have survived his first fight on the Canal if Hoosier hadn't told him to stay close.  
And he wouldn't let Eugene follow anyone else into his first baptism of fire.

"Alright."  
Sid nodded, and gnawed at his lips, attempting to tear off a piece of chapped skin. "And if anything happens to me…"  
"Aw, 'cmon Sid-"  
"No listen. If anything happens to me, you don't stop."  
"I'll stop-"  
Sid wrenched Eugene's shoulder, attempting to force the idea away from him. "No. You keep going. You run, and you don't stop. You get off the damn beach, and go until you can't see it anymore- then you can stop. Do you understand me?"  
He glared down at his best friend, and he waited until Eugene's met his gaze, and their eyes forged an agreement.  
"I understand."  
"Good."

Sid gave him another pat, and climbed over the side of an amtrac, wincing at the fact that it wasn't a newer model with a tailgate ramp. Eugene wouldn't be able to jog down the ramp like he had in bootcamp, he'd have to fling himself over the railing and expose himself to more fire. Sid offered Eugene a hand, and he took it, and pulled his friend over the edge of the amtrac. Sid glanced to the side, and stared at Snafu who was muttering to himself, and kicking the side of the boat much like he was inspecting a car.  
"We ain't gonna need to worry about taking any getting shelled on the shore." He announced, those large eyes blinking, slowly, as if savoring the movement. "We ain't gonna make it to the beach! This thing is gonna sink…" Snafu gave a huge grin, leering down at the leaky bottom of the amtrac. Sidney felt slightly sickened at the way he delighted in the thought of drowning- it was still dying.  
Things were bad when men were picking the way they'd rather go, Burning or drowning? Shelling or shot? Sniped or bayoneted?  
It made everything seem even more inevitable and hopeless than it had to.

When all the men had been packed into every available inch of space on the amtrac, there was an even louder blaring that came from the siren. A gloating loud and gloating sound, that served only to send private's heads twisting nervously to find the source of the indifferent noise. Sid placed a hand inside his pocket, and his fingers found the familiar pebble. For a moment, he almost considered chucking the rock at the siren.  
Good for nothing piece of shit.

Beneath him, Sid could feel a sudden traction as the tracs of the landing crafts engaged.  
From the front of the boat, over the sounding bells, scream sirens and grumbling engines, Sid could hear Hillbilly Jones screaming, "Here we go boys."  
The doors to the ship's bow flung open, the daylight surged into dark hold, filling it with a fearful brightness. For a moment, there was no ship, no amtrac, no water,- just blank and blinding illumination.  
As Sid squinted at the milky nothingness, he realized that he'd felt this before.  
He knew the though that was was running through the heads atop the camouflaged shoulders adjacent to him.  
Is this what dying would feel like?  
Was this the same white light?  
Was this just a preview of what was coming?

Then the moment passed.  
The amtrac lurched forward, and eyes adjusted.  
And suddenly, marines were birthed from the belly of a groaning ship, their boats charging into the spraying surf.  
Sid glanced over to find Eugene's pupils still dilated even though they had long moved out of the darkness. His eyes were wide taking in the smoke shrouded beach. Out here, beyond the confines of the carrier- nothing was white. Here everything was a conflict of horrible colors. Here, violent shades of red, and burnt hues of orange clashed with dead black and weeping blues.

Sid jerked the cigarette from Snafu's mouth, and sucked on it, coaxing out every last bit of smoke he could.  
He plucked it from between his lip and offered it to Eugene, who shook his head.  
"He don't smoke…" Laughed Snafu, stealing back the cigarette.  
Sid stared at his brother, his comrade.  
He'd never smoked.  
He'd never fired a mortar out of a stovepipe.  
He'd never fixed that bayonet.  
He'd never fired that weapon.

Sid wished he didn't know firsthand the hell Eugene was about to find out.

x.x.x.x

For a moment- he was almost disappointed.  
Eugene had thought that maybe Snafu would have been right.  
Maybe the piece of old sheet metal stapled together to make a boat would sink.  
Maybe he'd drown before he had to reach beach, which he couldn't even see on account of all the supporting fire.  
But somehow the boats engine parted the frothy waves leaving a trail slick with oil as they rumbled towards the island.  
A few moments ago, Eugene had seen color, a terrifying array of different colors. But now, everything dulled into one shade of overhanging grey.  
The water was no longer a beautiful pacific blue, but grey as the hulls of the hulking battleships.  
The only flash of color was the flame spitting from the eight inch guns on the battleships, but even those long red jets faded into a cloud of grey smoke.

Everyone was squatting now, including Sidney and Snafu who continued to snatch the same cigarette from the corners of the other's mouth. There was a burning in the back of his thighs, a burning he could have ignored in bootcamp, when he knew how much longer he'd have to hold out.  
But he didn't know.  
He was just waiting.  
Right before combat- he was still waiting.

He counted the seconds as he felt cold sweat roll down his back, soaking his dungarees in the hundred-degree heat. His stomach sloshed around like the seawater that had splashed its way inside the amtrack. The pitch of the ocean alone was enough to make him queasy, but the stench of Snafu and Sid's communal cigarette didn't help.

"Ya smoke yet?" Asked Snafu, yanking the cigarette away from Sidney.  
Eugene glared at him from under his helmet, which seemed too big and floppy. "No."  
"You will!" Snafu promised, handing the smoke back to Sidney, who took it with steady hands that made Eugene feel cowardly.

Suddenly there was a wailing, and everyone in the boat ducked as a shell drilled into the waves. Eugene's eyes were wide at the explosive device that had just whizzed past their boat, and was probably now sinking to the bottom of the ocean.  
That was a awful sound. Distinctively horrible. It didn't whirr, it didn't buzz, it didn't hiss- it wailed. It wailed like someone in horrible agony, letting out a continual scream.  
It wailed like he imagined the voices in Sidney's head did.

"Damn thing missed us…" Joked Hoosier, fumbling with his pocket. Finally he produced a small flask, and lifted it to his lips, wincing as he did so.  
Snafu grinned, and held out an expectant hand. "Care to share, Billy?"  
Hoosier placed the flask in Snafu's grasp, and Snafu downed a quick sip. "How about you Johnny Reb?  
Sid was quiet, but took the container, and drank a mouthful.  
"How about you Sledge?" Snafu offered, holding out the flask that offered the alcohol of combat communion.  
Eugene hesitated and watched more shells fly overhead, before grabbing the bottle and taking a swig.  
It burned its way down his throat, and settled in the pit of his twisted stomach. He wiped his mouth off on his sleeve, and handed the flask back to Hoosier who looked amused.  
"Whatcha think?"  
Eugene swallowed back what he felt like was oncoming vomit. "Tastes like motor oil…"  
Snafu popped his lips, "Tastes like battle…"  
Sid chuckled and patted Eugene on the shoulder. "I'm with Gene, this shit tasted a bit automotive for me."

More wailing.  
Eugene peered over the side of the boat to watch an incoming shell hit another amtrac.  
There was an instant of fire, flame and explosion, before the waves quelled the opposing element and claimed the charred remains of that boat.  
He shuddered, an unconscious reaction to the event.  
And then he saw them- the bodies bubbling to the surface, as if spat back out by the sea. In that instant, as he stared at the hunched backs of the floating dead- he was ready to storm the beach. He was ready to reach the flaming inferno that he could barely see through the haze. He was ready to feel his boots on contested sand. He was ready to fire a bullet, and watch it rip through the yellow skin of the enemy.  
He glanced back at Sidney, who seemed unmoved at the sight. He had his hand in his pocket, fumbling around with something. Bullets probably.

Sid glanced up at him, and spoke, his voice quiet so as to not make the moment embarrassing or revealing. "You remember what I told you?"  
"Yeah."  
"You remember to follow me…"  
Eugene nodded, and waited for Sid to say more. Sid's mouth opened, as if he were about to speak, but instead he just sucked in air and swallowed.  
Sid gave him a pat on the shoulder, and touched the little lapel on the collar of Eugene's shirt.  
"I'll be right behind you."  
Sid gave a contented nod, and turned away, focusing on his cigarette and that object in his pocket.

The Island drew closer, and Eugene could make out burnt silhouettes of palm trees, black against a sky grey from explosion smoke. And soon, he could even see the skeletal remains of other amtracs, flames raging between their blacked metal bones.  
And then something happened that even after all the preparation and training, he hadn't seen coming.  
Something that even after months of boot camp, days of sitting of Pavuvu and minutes riding in this boat, he still wasn't totally ready for.  
The irrevocable moment had come.  
He felt the amtracs lurch against the shallow shore, and heard the command.

"Hit the beach!"

x.x.x.x

Eugene watched as Sid dove over the side of the boat, and against every instinct that told him to say within the confines of the amtrac, flung himself over the side too. He grimaced when he splashed into the surf, getting a mouthful of seawater. He could taste the salt, and also the blood. Sand was flying everywhere from crashing shells, and bullets whizzed closer to his cheeks than any shave. The amtracs were pulling away, leaving the marines stranded. He wanted to scream, to tell the boats to come back. But his voice didn't work. It gave up before it was even asked to compete with the cacophony of combat noises blaring all around him.

Men were clawing their though the sand, inching up the beach by their elbow and knees. But Eugene hadn't moved. Every muscle in his body had frozen into some regressive fetal position he now lay in. A shell had landed near his head, and he'd braced himself for the explosion, braced to feel his bones separating. But he didn't. His belly stayed plastered to the ground, but somehow the shell had drained the sound from his ears. The exploding, chaotic beach was as silent as the corpse that lay next to him. He could see Sidney turned and glance back at him, his arms bloodied and his blonde hair completely blackened from soot. He could see Sid's mouth, moving and twisting, obviously speaking. But Eugene could hear nothing. The shell had sucked away all the sound, the sound of the bombs, the bullets, and his best friend's screaming.

Sid waved his scraped arms, causing blood to fly into the sand, as he motioned for Eugene to hurry.  
Eugene blinked at his friend, unsure how he was able to sit that upright in the midst of all this fire.  
Suddenly, everything resumed. The almighty sounds of the battleships' bombardment of the beach rocked his shattered eardrums, and he looked up just in time to watch a bullet completely pierce through a man's helmet. The man flopped to the ground, his head pouring a geyser of blood from each side.  
"Eugene!" Sid's voice was barely audible. "Eugene, come on!"

But it was enough to spur Eugene into action.  
His legs engaged. His arms flayed.  
Finally, he was somehow moving, struggling through the hot sand, and little trails of blood that coursed between creases in the beach.  
"Come on Eugene!" Sid yelled, as Eugene thrashed his way through the sand. Shells exploded all around him, leaving large holes in the beach. He didn't even worry about the bullets anymore. They seemed trivial compared to the big, black, dead things that eradicated entire chucks of earth. He glanced to the side, and saw a man in two halves, a shell in the sandy space where his legs had been completely severed from his chest. His guts, oozed out of his exposed middle, sliding like slick worms into the sand. But Eugene kept crawling, until his arms were bloodied like Sid's from scraping against rockier ground.

With a final lurch, he reached his friend, who pulled him into his arms. Sid pressed his chin to Eugene's head, and tried to brace against his shaking body. Their sweat ran together, their blood mingled, as they gripped tightly to each other.  
Eugene glanced up at Sid, whose eyes were already scanning the terrain, planning the next movement.  
"Keep following me. This ain't over."  
Eugene's felt his eyes widen. "It ain't over?"

Sid shook his head, "This hell is far from over…" 


	30. Even though it killed me

**Alrighty then, I hope everyone had a wonderful christmas and a very happy new year. I know it's been a while since an update but the holiday season has been crazy for me. once again, this thing is hot off the press, so I'm sure you'll find typos, mistakes and edits. My apoligies. A HUGE thanks to my amazing friend Ber1719 who caught up with this story over break. I'd be lost without her insightful commentary and in depth reviews. She is truly a wonderful friend :) More thanks to my awesome regulars, who i also could not live without. BloodUpontheRisers, Bertha Jorkins, AlishaofTory and my newest reviewer witchbaby300! :) Thank ya'll so much. I hope everyone enjoys this monster of a chapter!  
Peace,  
EllieMayy  
**

"And that's when I turned around and saw him there! I couldn't believe it, Humphrey Bogart!"

Amazed gasps and excited whispers arose around the table, but Tallulah found no value in Maggie's story.  
He was only a person.  
A good looking, handsome, charming person, but just a person.  
She glanced out the window at the sporadic flashes illuminating the dark sky with balls of fire.  
How was he so special that he had escaped all of this?  
Her eyes wondered around the table again, scanning each nurse for a reaction to the large orange cloud that was rising from the island of Pelelieu.  
But she found none.  
The nurses sat giggling at Maggie's story, sipping on the last of their evening coffee, and picking at any bits of food that might be left on their plates.  
How could they not be horrified at the exploding outside world?  
Tallulah felt her neck craning to lean closer to the glass- how could they not even be, interested?

Tallulah tore her gaze from the window and stared down at her plate of uneaten food.  
An older nurse tapped the side of the dish, her fingernail making a clinking sound on the ceramic. "You'll be hungry in the morning… You should keep your energy up."  
Tallulah wanted to scoff- whatever for?  
More sitting around?  
More waiting for the beach to be declared secure?  
More waiting for more men to die?  
She certainly needed her energy for that.

But she shoveled a forkful of the galley food into her mouth, which craved one thing and one thing only- vodka.  
She needed the relief, she needed the blank nothingness it could give her. Sidney had become her drug, her addiction, but he wasn't here.  
And she needed the Vodka to forget the dangers that he was facing in the hellish light of the orange flares.  
She needed to forget the fact that he might end up dead by the time morning came.  
She needed to forget the fact that he might be dead already.

A shrill ringing pierced through the galley hold, and immediately Hisako jumped to her feet and snagged the telephone.  
Tallulah heard mumbled jabbering on the other end, a man's voice, full of command and authority.  
"Yes Sir." Hisako concluded, letting Tallulah conclude that the man was obviously higher up than a lieutenant.  
She placed the phone down, and waited for silence to grow over the dinner table. When she opened her mouth to speak, all other mouths closed- awaiting the orders of the head nurse.  
"The beach is not secure…" Hisako began in her patient tone, as if she had all the time in the world to relay orders. "So we will not be setting up an aid or triage station yet."  
There were a few lazy comments swapped around the table, like "Oh, I wanted to tan," but Hisako glared them down.  
"However, there will be a relay of wounded and injured onto the boat, beginning at 0600 tomorrow morning." She paused to take a look around the galley. "Be ready- I've no idea how many casualties. Those of you on the night shift need to prepare this galley as a holding area just in case."  
A few gasps arose, but not the delighted puffs that had been released into the air at the mention of Bogart's name.  
These were worried pants, as if already tired from probable exertion.  
Hisako glanced down at her watch and then back around the galley. "Dismissed!"

Chairs scraped and feet shuffled as nurses rose from the table to retreat back to their quarters. Those staying downed the last of their coffee, their instant fuel and sat waiting for Hisako's further orders.  
Tallulah didn't move as she watched the day shift plod out of the kitchen. She sat plastered to her seat, her eyes begging, pleading with Hisako's strident gaze.  
"Start by setting up IV lines and drips!" Hisako ordered, "Hang them from the pipes in the ceiling, or drape them from cabinets. Get a few sheets and place them on the tables. I'm turning four of these tables into ORs." She motioned to the remaining benches, "Turn those into beds."  
Another group of nurses nodded, and most trotted out of the galley to retrieve supplies, but Tallulah stayed bolstered to her seat.  
A hand descended upon her shoulder, and the pressure barely registered, but was persuasive because of it's gentleness.

"Go." Hisako commanded. "Go up to bed. There will be plenty for you to do in the morning."  
Over the past few days, Tallulah's nails had been worn down to jagged stubs, and her teeth only paused their gnawing for a second. "I can't." She begged. "I can't sleep."  
Hisako stared down at Tallulah's virtually uneaten mash, and half full cup of coffee.  
"Can you eat nothing but your own nails?"  
Tallulah shook her head, a masochist finger snaking it's way back inside her mouth.  
"Please. If you send me back to our room, I won't do anything but pace, and bite my nails, and stare out the window. And what good will that do anyone? Let me help. Let me help set up the galley tonight."

Hisako sighed and sat down next to Tallulah, swiveling in her stool.  
"What are you afraid of Tallulah?"  
Tallulah sighed, she hadn't been expecting this question at all.  
She was afraid of Sidney dying.  
She was afraid of him never coming back.  
She was afraid of even thinking about it.

"Thinking…" Tallulah answered, picturing a bottle of Grey Goose filled with liquid mindlessness. "I don't want to think anymore- because all I can think about is Sidney."  
"Do you know what I am scared of?"  
Tallulah thought for a moment, but ended up shaking her head anyways. "No."  
Hiskao gave her a sad smile. "You'll find out tomorrow."  
Tallulah scoffed. "It's always tomorrow."  
"You'll find out. I promise you."  
Tallulah turned to her roommate, her commanding officer, and gripped her hand. "I would do whatever I could to help you. I would."  
Hisako gave another smile, something that was so beautiful, and yet so unnatural on her lips. "Thank you… But you will find you have no power over it." She reached deep into her pocket, and pulled out two small white pills. She dropped them in Tallulah's hand. "Take these with a glass of water."  
Tallulah's eyes shot open at her instructions. "Are they-"  
Hisako nodded. "Sleeping pills? Yes."  
"Where did you get?"  
"They're mine."  
Then, Tallulah noticed the dark circles that stood out against Hisako's pale skin, and the redness in her half-lidded eyes.  
"You don't?"  
Again, Hisako finished the sentence and finished Tallulah's thoughts.

"I don't sleep either."

x.x.x.x  
"Hurry, the boats are already lined up!"

Tallulah shot up, struggling to free herself from the bedsheets.  
"Already?"  
Hisako nodded, and cast a distracted glance out the porthole window. "How'd you sleep?"  
Dazed, Tallulah tossed on a uniform, not quite believing the night was over. "Like a rock…"  
Hisako smiled. "I knew you would."  
Tallulah took a cup of coffee that Hisako held out for her.  
She gulped down a few scalding mouthfuls, while Hisako traced a slender finger along the ivory band that sat on Tallulah's middle finger of her right hand.  
The motion seemed natural, as if was familiar to her.  
"Clever." Hisako complimented. "Doesn't look like a wedding ring."  
"Sidney wears his like this too." Tallulah shrugged. "It means something to us."  
"As it should."  
Tallulah glanced up from lacing her navy issue shoes. "Thank you."  
Hisako plopped down onto Tallulah's mattress, and her head cocked to one side. "For what?"  
Tallulah rose from the floor, and sat down on the bed. "For letting us get married."  
Hisako grinned. "I didn't let you get married. I believe God may have done that."  
Tallulah squeezed her roommate's hand. "But you made it happen. You took me there. You helped Sidney." She stared into her friend's unreadable eyes, with a pleading promise shining in her own. "And you haven't told anyone…"  
"It's not my secret to tell." Hisako murmured, "And it doesn't matter much anyways. Half of my girls are already married."  
"And you?" Tallulah asked, gazing down at Hisako's hands. "Are you married?"

Hisako's bare fingers wriggled, as if uncomfortable with their nakenedness.  
"I was supposed to be."  
Tallulah had to stop herself from gasping.  
"You had a finacee?"  
Hisako tugged at a small chain that hung around her neck to expose the length that lay under her dress.  
Strung around the silver was a small band bearing a beautiful cluster of pearls. "I suppose I still do."  
Tallulah gazed into the milky creaminess of the jewels, admiring the simple warmth they held. "Where is he?"  
Hiskao shook her head, and tugged at a strand of black hair. "I don't know. I haven't heard from in over two years."  
"I'm so sorry… I-"

"And that's why I don't sleep." Hisako would not be stopped by Tallulah apologies mid-revelation. "Staring up into the dark is like staring straight into his eyes. And I can't sleep, because all I can think of is him. I wonder where he is, and what he is doing. If he is safe, or if I'm was made a widow two years ago." She ran her fingers over the clumps of pearls, the only tangible thing that tied her to her disappeared beloved.  
And when she turned back to Tallulah, she wore a guilty expression that weighed heavily on her delicate features.  
"I pray that he is dead all the time. For my sake, I pray that he is dead and that someone will come tell me soon. So that I don't have to lie awake any longer."  
She cast a glance out the porthole window, and the ghost of a smile passed over her stationary lips. "What funny things war does to us…."  
And then she rose from the bed, authority rising with her.

" Come on, it's time to work…"  
x.x.x.x

For a moment the hospital ward was silent.  
No words passed between any of the anxiously awaiting nurses.  
Even the Solace was quiet, making not a sound as it floated at anchor.  
And then, Tallulah heard it.  
The first wail.  
The first helpless, agonizing cry which pierced the eerie, momentary silence that had settled over the solace.  
Her eyes widened at the sound, the desperate shrieking that penetrated the thick walls of the hospital bay. Her eyes widened further at the amassing volume as more and more moaning, crying, and screaming surged through the air that was thick with expectation. Tallulah's pupils were fully dilated by the time the ward doors flew open, and the first wave of soldiers and medic rushed in. And her eyes could widen no further when she glanced between the swinging doors to find that she the stream of wounded seemed miles long, if not endless.

She stood motionless, the only stationary figure in sea of chaotic movement. Her feet had planted to the ground, and refused to take a single step in any decisive direction. Medics and nurses alike rushed around her, bumping into the paralyzed girl as if she were a wall. She'd never seen so much blood before. She understood now why the floors of the hospital ward were painted red. Men were staring at her, reaching for her, dying right in front of her, and despite her month of training, despite her every desire to be moved to action- all Tallulah could do was blink.

There was a slight pressure on her back. "Emeraudo…"  
Tallulah glanced up to see Hisako outfitted in her O.R. scrubs, which were already splattered with an all too familiar red substance.  
Tallulah shook her head, overwhelmed by how much there was to do, and how much would not get done. The amount of treatment that the men pouring through the door needed was incomprehensible.  
"There's too much…" Tallulah stammered, pointing around the room. "How can we?"  
Hisako gave her a gentle shake. "We can't. That's point Tallulah. Look around, remember triage?"

Wincing, Tallulah visualized the rudimentary stages in her mind.  
There were those who were likely to live, regardless of what care they received;  
Those for whom immediate care might make save.  
And then, those who would die, regardless of what care they received.  
Triage decided who would live and who would die, usually according to the nurse running the station.

"Don't send me to triage…" Tallulah begged. "I can't do that. I wasn't trained to be an undertaker…"  
Hisako's gaze was firm, and her mouth moved quickly behind her surgical mask. "Well, you weren't trained to stand like a statue either.."  
Hisako produced a green marker from her pocket and shoved it into Tallulah's hands. "So go. Go to triage. Remember your numbers, 1,2, and 3."  
There was a gentle push on her back, and suddenly, Tallulah was stumbling out the ward doors.  
The movement felt good. It felt good to know she was on the brink on possibly helping someone.  
Her marker would save lives.  
But her marker would also take life.  
With one swipe of her green felt tipped pen, she decided.  
She would play God.  
For a few moments her will, and her medical verdict was the fate of those she marked.

Her feet had soon carried her into the galley, that yesterday Hisako had turned into a holding area. The kitchen was swarming with injured men. Their cries bounced off the metal appliances, and echoed through the galley, and down the tunneling hallways.  
A few other nurses were also in the galley, each with their own colorful marker in hand. They too were undertakers. They too were picking and choosing. They too were only humans attempting to do God's work.

One of the nurses glanced up at Tallulah, after scribbling a distracted '3' on a man's forehead. "Mark 'em honey." She commanded, "And mark 'em fast. Initial 'em too." Nodding, Tallulah dropped to her knees beside a man, whose hand was clutching his side. Blood gushed from the gaps between his fingers, and Tallulah saw a gaping hole on the other side of his containing hand.  
Swallowing back waves of nausea, Tallulah pressed the tip of her green marker to the man's forehead, which was dripping with sweat. And just like her feet had bolted to the hospital floor, her hand froze as the marker touched the soldier's skin. The wound was bad, one of those that blurred the lines between mortal and treatable. It was deep, and as glanced into the laceration, she could see some little organ or appendage quaking. It might be treatable, if he could have surgery now.  
If he could have instantaneous treatment.  
But that was the problem.  
The wait for a spot on the O.R table was already lengthy, and steadily growing longer.

Tallulah glanced up at the other nurse, who shook her head as she slashed a '2' on another marine's bloody forehead.  
Tallulah's gaze was terrified as she watched the other nurse's lips contour to silently mouth 'three.'  
Nodding, Tallulah turned back to the man, whose eyes stared up at her pleadingly, begging to feel anything but the curve of cool felt scrawling a three on his 'forehead.' With an apologetic gaze, Tallulah allowed her hand to inscribe the fatal digit onto his sweaty skin.  
"Am I going to die?"  
Tallulah blinked at the loaded question. According to the numerical value she had assigned him- yes he was going to die.  
But, had they not been in this chaotic situation, had there been a ready O.R waiting for him- he wouldn't have to be dying.  
He could have a fighting chance.  
She cleared her throat before bracing her lips into a smile that only shone with sadness. "You're going to be fine..."  
The man gave a tired chuckle, and stared up at her. "Anyone ever told ya that you were a bad liar?"  
She clamped down on her bottom lip, and stared at him with a gaze that begged forgiveness  
When he gave her a small grin, she decided to answer his initial question. "

"Yes. It's unbelievable how many times I get told that."  
The soldier gave a strained laugh. "I figured."  
Tallulah bent down and pulled out a small syringe of morphine out of her dress pocket. "Are you in pain?"  
With a grimace, the man shook his head. "Nah, I'm fine."  
Tallulah glanced up at him, as she uncapped the needle. "Anyone ever told you that you're a bad liar?"  
He chuckled again, but this time the action forced spouts of blood from his gaping wound.  
"I don't want it…" He told her, still clutching his wounded side. "Save it for someone else…"  
Tallulah pushed the syringe into his trembling hand. "We've got plenty. This is yours, if you decide you need it."  
He nodded up at her, and outstretched his bloody hand. "Thank you. I'm Paul, by the way."  
She took his hand, finding that her own slid easily into his grasp due to the coating of slick red fluid. "Teola…"  
He didn't catch that lie.

It took every ounce of conviction she had to release his hand, and take her leave as a Chaplin approached them.  
But she had to. She was finally moving. Finally doing something. She couldn't stop now. Not after just one assessment.  
And so she continued.

x.x.x.x

By the end of the afternoon, elementary numbers that had once seemed so innocent had an entirely new ethical weight.  
Drawing a '1' was short, sweet and simple. One slash, one fluid movement, one complete wave of relief for the man that felt only one graze of green felt. '2's were nerve wracking. The curvature felt like a three, and Tallulah watched faces fall, until they felt the straightening of her line, and there was instant hope. But the two, double humps were unmistakable. The dreaded half circles that marked onsetting and unstoppable approach of death.  
She'd drawn more of those than any other number, and threes were slowly becoming her least favorite digit.

Tallulah pushed a few sweaty strands of hair out of her face, as she scribbled a 'deceased' into the folds of a marine's furrowed forehead.  
Soon, she trotted to another injured marine, and she dropped to her knees, feeling the concrete floor scrape against her skin. The man's face was almost completely blackened with searing burns that oozed blood and a purple fluid. Due to the extreme heat, one of his eyes had been completely melted, leaving only an eyeball that resembled fried egg whites in a bleeding socket that hadn't fully cauterized. Black char marks cris-crossed his bare chest, as if he had literally been thrown onto a grill. His entire body shook, a signal of the shock he had already gone into. Taking a deep breath, Tallulah pulled out her green marker and another syringe of morphine. But as she lifted the marker to his face to write 'three,' one eye flicked open, and then widened.

"Teola!" He gasped, little rivulets of blood appearing at each side of his mouth as he spoke.  
Tallulah quickly wiped away the blood that was coursing down his cheeks- it was as if his mouth was crying.  
"Tom?" She whispered, as she stuck him with the morphine.  
Instantly, his body trembled less, and an expression of relief passed over his face as his eyebrows relaxed.  
"How the hell did you get out here babe?" He asked, reaching blindly for Tallulah's twin who was miles away in Hollywood, probably drinking a cocktail and watching the sunset.

Tallulah wasn't sure if she should play along. She wasn't sure if she should admit to Tom who she really was. She cast a glance back to him, to find that his expression had return to one of, anguish. Tallulah could barely stand to look at the little lines of agony contouring his seared face, and decided that whatever comfort she could bring Tom she would. She'd rather see him die happy, then die with the discontent of never saying his final goodbye to Teola.

"I joined the core…" She told him, pulling out another syrette of morphine and sticking it into his abdomen. "I had to do my part."  
One of his scalded hands reached out to stroke her cheek, and Tallulah leaned into his awkward touch, feeling seeping fluid smear across her cheek.  
"I'm so proud of you Teola…" His words were strained, and he grimaced as more blood trickled down the sides of his mouth.  
Tallulah brushed them away with her bare hands.  
"I'm so proud of you, Tom…"  
And she meant it. In that moment, she didn't have to play Teola. That was an honest expression, one she wished she could tell to every wounded man slumped against the walls of the Solace.  
His hand took hers and Tallulah felt a tiny squeeze. Although the pressure barely registered, it was a motion that seemed to take all Tom's strength.  
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry that we won't be able to get married next year like I promised. And I'm sorry that I was never able to respond to all your letters."

Tallulah tried not to let her eyes grow too wide at the revelation of the seriousness of her sister's relationship.  
she'd thought that Teola would easily forget about Tom, and be swept off her feet by some handsome movie star, an industrious producer, or simply fall in love with the glory of her career.  
But Tallulah had misjudged the significance of Teola's connection to Tom.  
It was apparent that Teola was currently loosing much more than just a summer boyfriend.  
She was loosing a fiancee.

"It's okay!" Tallulah breathed, in a lame attempt to comfort her sister's dying lover. "Everything will be fine."  
Tom's grip on her hand was slowly loosening, as his own grip on life was being severed. "You know that I love you?"  
Tallulah clutched his hand, "Yes. I know. I love you too, Tom."  
"You'll never forget right? You'll never forget that I loved you?"  
Tallulah pressed a kiss into the black, cracking skin of his forehead, and then lightly touched her lips to his. "I'll never forget Tom. I promise."  
He gave a nod, as his eyelids drooped.  
And the half smile that settled onto his lips, never vanished.

When Tallulah realized that Tom's mouth had frozen into place, she rose from the ground, slick from his blood and bodily fluids. She was about to triage another man, when a flurry of motion in the edge of her vision caught her her eye, and an instantaneous electricity poured through her body. She whirled around to face the commotion and fell back to her knees when she saw a certain blonde headed soldier burst through the galley doors. She was flooded with an ecstasy of relief to see his slender figure bearing a stretcher instead of being carried on one. Her knees hit the concrete and were instantly skinned, and her eyes closed and hands clasped together immediately, giving her thanks to a God whom currently existed.  
And his name rode out on a breath more praising and sweeter than her previous prayer.

"Sidney Phillips…"

x.x.x.x

Eugene had decided not to Sidney into the galley, that he'd heard was serving as a holding area for the wounded. He'd never been good with blood, or gory things of that nature. Anyways, Sid had told him just to wait on the other side of the swinging doors. He'd be back in a moment, as their orders were only to drop off Robert Leckie and return to the beach. But his curiosity had gotten the best of them, and Eugene found himself peeking through the circular porthole windows cut into the galley door.

And while he had suspected to see severed limbs laying everywhere, pools of blood and piles of bodies, he had not expected to see her.

"Tallulah…" Her name flew from his lips, unconsciously, as the mere sight of her triggered a reaction deep inside him. He found himself clutching the door, taken back with surprise. Her red curls tumbled down her back, pouring out from beneath a nurse's cap that needed readjusting. Her pale arms were coated with the dried blood of other men, and her shoulders sagged out of what appeared to be fatigue.  
An entirely different picture from the styled supermodel he'd been reunited with only a month or two ago.

He watched as she bent down, and ran her hands over Leckie's forehead. Lucky bastard- how he craved to feel that same touch. He'd fantasized about a moment like this, only in his dreams, it had been him on the stretcher and not Leckie. She would run over to him, and her hand would clutch his, as she begged him not to die. She would kiss his hand, and stroke his forehead as various doctors swarmed around him, muttering about how he might not make it. Of course, he always made it- because the dream always ended with a passionate kiss, as he awoke in the recovery room.

But the scene that was unfolding right before his eyes, was one a straight his nightmares. Instead of continuing to tend to Leckie, Tallulah and threw her arms around Sidney, and plastered her lips to his, in a motion that seemed far to natural for the two of them.  
Eugene's heart was thumping wildly, and he staggered a few steps backward as he watched Sid's hands slide down Tallulah's spine. He grew nauseous as Tallulah's hands, the very ones that had held his own, snaked up Sidney's neck, and then ran through his hair. There were actually spots appearing in his vision when they finally broke away, and Tallulah's head fell upon Sid's shoulder, and he bent down to kiss her pile of fiery curls.

He couldn't believe that the same man who had just lead him through combat was the same man that was now kissing his ex-fiancée.  
He couldn't believe that his best friend who had coaxed him off the bombarded beach was running his hands up his girl's back.  
He couldn't believe that his beloved brother, who had just saved him from bombs, shells, mortars and bullets, had obviously been fucking his Tallulah.  
Eugene tried to breath as he continued to stare at a scene designed to suffocate him.  
Sidney should have just led him into a nest of Jap gunners.  
Sidney should have just called in his exact coordinates on the beach to a squadron of enemy bombers.

Better yet, Sidney should have just stabbed him himself.

x.x.x.x

"You're safe, you're safe, you're safe…" Tallulah chanted, touching every part of her husband she could, assuring herself that this was not just his image that haunted her on lonely nights.  
"You're alive, you're safe…" She breathed again in wonder as her finger clutched his shoulders, his arms, his hands…  
He pressed a quick kiss into her lips, silencing her rapid string of speech.  
"I'm here." He murmured, delivering calming strokes to her trembling back. "I'm here, and you're here, and everything is all right."  
Nodding, she broke away from him, suddenly aware of the gazes they might be attracting.  
"I love you…" He muttered, into her sweaty curls. "I love you."  
She wrapped her arms around him once more, savoring body in her grasp. "I love you too Sidney. I can't believe you're here…"

He gave a grin, and his blue eyes ignited into optical smile. "Well, start believing babe, cause they're thinking about making me a runner to this ship!"  
She gasped, and a dirty hand pressed to her mouth to contain the sound. " You're going to be a runner? You'll be coming to the boat? I'll be able to see you?" She asked in hopeful disbelief.  
He chuckled, and cupped her flushing cheeks in his adoring hands. "Yes, yes, and yes!"  
His hand had wound back around her waist, and her lips were already merging with his when a demanding call rang out from another part of the galley. "Private Phillips!"  
Grimacing, Sid's mouth reluctantly tore apart from hers, teeth clinging to swollen lips. "Yes, sir. Coming Sarge!"

He engulfed her small frame in one last hug, gripping at tightly to her as he could, while her nails dug into his back, as if their pressure would force him to stay.  
"I love you…" He murmured again, as their hands were severed. "I love you Tallulah Kendall."  
Now, held together by only the strength of their stares, she shot him a the biggest smile she could.  
"I love you too Sidney. Please come back to me."  
And then he disappeared around the corner. Leaving nothing but the smell of his skin lingering on hers.  
Although he reeked of salt and sweat, his scent was a inhalation of calm in the frenzied triage area.  
Tallulah smoothed her skirts and dug out her marker, prepared to access another man.

"I guess this is what I get for going off to war…"

Tallulah whirled around to face the voice, to face that all to familiar accent.  
"Eugene?" She gasped, as she felt her jaw dropping to the blood-soaked floor.  
He walked up to her, leaving a respectful distance between them. "So I guess that last month meant nothing to you?"  
Tallulah's gaze flashed upwards, her eyes blinking in shock. "Last month?" Her voice was full of shrill surprise.  
They hadn't had a 'last month' in over a year.  
Eugene's hands flew in the air, "You don't even remember do you?"  
Tallulah's eyebrows furrowed into her forehead in genuine confusion. "Eugene, I haven't seen you in over a year!"  
"Were you that drunk Tallulah?" He mused aloud, his voice bouncing off the galley walls.

Snarling, Tallulah pulled him into the storage supply room.  
They glared into each other angry eyes amongst cans of sugar, boxes of butter and sacks of flour.  
When Tallulah was convinced she could speak coherently, she gave a deep sigh.

"What are you saying, Eugene?" She asked, pressing a hand to her tired temple.  
"You don't remember anything about seeing me last month?"  
Tallulah tossed a stick of butter between her hands. "I've been this ship for two months, Eugene. I don't know how you can think you saw me…"  
Eugene's eyes grew wide, and his hands flew around in hectic motions around his face. "Tallulah? Dammit! The canteen? I came up to the bar? We went outside… You took a bottle of rum."

With once glance to Tallulah's horrified face, tiny details of that hazy night he'd draped in daydream, surfaced, and actuality flooded his memory.  
She hadn't tripped down the stairs  
She was drinking rum and not vodka.  
The motion of their lips had felt more awkward them he had remembered. Even her taste was not only different, but unfamiliar.

"I was on this boat Eugene. But, Teola-"  
Eugene held up his hand, willing the words to stop.  
How could he have been so stupid?  
How could not have even separated twin from twin?  
Tallulah's gaze had turned from shock, to anger.  
Eugene through her may have even seen hurt glint in her emerald irisis.

"You thought she was me?" Tallulah's words were short bursts of breath. "You thought that?"  
Eugene could only beg. "Tallulah, she looked just like you looked when I saw you in them pictures… Blonde hair, curly, green eyes."  
She was shaking her head, "Is all you know about me the color of my hair and the color of my eyes? Is that all it takes to fool you Eugene?"  
She could feel her hands wrapping in anger around the stick of butter. "You didn't even know I was Essie Jo Adams. You couldn't see through the different colors!"  
"You couldn't see through me leaving…"

Tallulah spun around once more to face him. "What?"  
"You couldn't see that I didn't mean it…"  
Tallulah gave an angry laugh, the noise sounding rickety and unstable. "Ha! You're telling me that you didn't mean anything you said in the damn letter! Do you realize that I've lived the last few years of my life according to a few life changing sentences you claim not to mean?"  
Unable to contain herself any longer, she slung the butter at him and relished his little groan at the stick collided with his abdomen.  
"I didn't mean it Tallulah… But you, you didn't love me enough to see that I didn't mean it!" He accused.  
Tattletale tears streamed down her reddened cheeks.  
"I loved you so that I listened to you Eugene!" It was almost harder to hear her shrieks than the wails of the wounded. "I loved you so much that I did what you told me, even though it killed me. I tried to let you go, just like your note said."

He couldn't stand watching her cry any longer. "But Tallulah, don't you know that I went to war for you? I came to war so that I wouldn't have to be the person who let his family, his country and his fiancée down. I came so that when I got home we could honorably settle down, get married and have a family. I went to war so you didn't have to marry the boy that escaped the draft."  
"But you don't even want any of that anymore!" She spewed, "You gave that up you the day you told me to "find another"  
He scoffed and flung a bag of flour onto the floor.  
"Then what the hell would I have come for Tallulah? If not for you? If not for us?"

She cast her veiled eyes downward, and a tiny smirk appeared on her pink lips. "So that you wouldn't have to be the boy who escaped the draft. Do you really think I would have given a damn Eugene? You came for glory. You came to be like your father and your grandfather. You came to be like Sidney."  
He whirled around to face her. "  
"I was only trying to protect you Tallulah."  
"By telling me that you were leaving? By telling me not to wait on you?."  
"Forgive me for trying." He muttered as he began to walk away.  
"I can't believe you would tell me you were leaving me, without even meaning it. It's my life!" She paused as if to reexamine her claim. "No, actually, for that matter, it was our life. You were heroic and brave, and it's dearly noticed, but you were a damn fool to think that I wouldn't listen to you."  
"I had to try." He whispered fiercely as he grabbed her and made her eyes meet his. "I couldn't let you wait on me, when I might die. I had to write you that letter. I had to make you think that I meant every word, when I didn't mean a single one."  
"But I listened to you Eugene. I gave up everything I was, and everything I wanted to be, because you told me it wasn't good enough. You told me that you were leaving! You didn't say you were coming back, you didn't say for a little while. You said you were leaving!" She screamed.  
The tears of hate were pouring from her eyes.  
Her hair was streaming in her face, blown by the contrived winds on from the industrial fan in the kitchen.

"So it's all about you isn't it Tallulah? This entire situation was all about what happened to you. Not about what happened to me. Not about what I went through, the pain I went through writing you that note. How much I suffered telling you to 'find someone else.'You love yourself more than you could ever love anyone else. And I was stupid not to see that."  
"I gave up everything!"  
"And I suppose you're incapable of it, but that's what love is- it's forgetting about yourself."

Her voice was a hiss, which slithered from her throat and slid out into the air with bared fangs. "And I did just that! I forgot all about myself and what I wanted! Haven't you seen my pictures? Do you think that's me? Do you think that's what I wanted to do? I had to make money! I had to house Momma and daddy and Teo, and Trula if you weren't going to."  
He walked a few feet away, and then turned back to face her, his eyes glowering. "Then what are you doing out here? You ain't making near as much money working as a nurse…."  
"I couldn't take it anymore Eugene. I couldn't take being Essie Jo and Helene." I couldn't take being that three people any longer. I had to be Tallulah again. I just had to."  
An accusing finger rose high in the air before lowering to point at her. "Exactly!" He yelled, "You love you. Tallulah loves Tallulah."  
"How dare you Eugene, how dare you?" She screamed pounding her little fists against his chest. "Have you any idea why I came on this boat?"  
"I have no clue Tallulah."

In that moment, she realized the distance that was between them, and what scared her was the fact that it had always been there.  
How much had they not told each other as they lay on the beach cradling the other?  
How many things had they left unspoken?  
Eugene grabbed her hand and held it still, not wanting to be beaten anymore. "So why did you come out here then?" He asked.  
She stared at him, feeling the true depth of the expanse she had realized only moments ago.  
She had come to the Pacific to regain her own true identity. But now she realized- she had come to see Sidney more. The tug on her heartstrings pulled her across a country and across oceans.  
She had come here nothing more that 'his girl'.  
She would leave here his wife.  
But, gazing into Eugene's dark eyes, she only felt the compulsion to hide one last thing from him: the true reason she came- the reason that would devastate him further.

"I don't know why I came." She muttered, not wanting to look at her, lest her eyes betray her.  
"So, you didn't come for Sidney?" He asked, his eyes brimming with jealous tears, while and a look of complete anguish passing his face.  
A tear streamed form her own eye. "If I told you I did?"  
He gave a bitter laugh, that sounded more like cough. "Ha, I would have never believed you." He turned towards her, searching to see the effects of his words written in the little lines of pain across her forehead. "And because of that Miss Tallulah Kendall Adams will always be Miss Tallulah Kendall Adams, never Sledge of Phillips."

She grabbed her left hand with her right, and wiggled and pulled until her ring came loose. "I already chose to be Miss Phillips.-" She lifted the ring, and held it out for him to gawk at the idea that the inconspicuous piece of ivory sitting on the wrong finger on the wrong had actually had meaning.  
"Miss Tallulah Adams has already chosen to be Miss Tallulah Phillips."  
"Tallulah-" Eugene growled taking a step into the no man's land between the that was littered with various cooking supplies she had chucked at him. But she had already begun to walk away.  
"Oh you'll be alright." She called nonchalantly, waving her hand in the air. "Lord knows you've already screwed my sister."  
Eugene ran up to her, and grabbed her waist and shook her "I thought she was you…"  
"Then you clearly don't know me!" She accused, jabbing her finger towards him. "Do you even know me Eugene? Do you?"  
"I used to think I did." He spat. "But I don't know you anymore Tallulah, because you don't even know yourself. You lost yourself the day you signed into that damn agency…"

She flung a hand at him and slapped him across the face, for daring to insult her career. "And I found myself Eugene, here on the Solace…"  
"You found your freedom. And you found the affection you crave so desperately to have from someone you never should have."  
"Affection?" She questioned, tears clouding her eyes. "Eugene, he loves me!"  
"I loved you!" He admitted..  
"Loved me?" She screamed, as an angry hand slapped him across his flushed cheek "You. Left. Me."  
"Temporarily-"  
"You told me not to wait."

He grabbed her arms and shook her, his brown eyes wide with rage. "Tallulah, I didn't want you to wait on me if I died!"  
Her voice was low, and her whispered reply was barely audible over the sound of the surf slamming the side of the Solace.  
"I would have waited on you forever."  
"Then why aren't you waiting?"  
With icy eyes, she glared up at him. "Because our forever is over. You told me to find another."  
She cast a glance down to her shaking hands, and one look at her ivory band sent a calming wave through her body.

"And I did."


	31. Fallout

**Whooo, sorry it's been so long since I've updated! school is finally kicking into high gear now.  
Thanks to all my reviewers. BerthaJorkins, Witchbaby3000, BloodUpontheRisers, and my lovely Ber1719 :)  
I hope everyone enjoys this chapter!  
-EllieMayy  
**

"Should I even ask how you got all the way over here? Because the last time I saw you, you were standing in a doorway with a towel on, running your mouth about Sidney Phillips."

Tallulah looked up from smearing antibiotic ointment on a gash that sliced across Robert Leckie's forehead.  
"And you were a staring fool that couldn't keep his eyes above my collarbone."  
Leckie's lips curled into a a sheepish grin. "My apologies, Miss Adams. But Really, should I ask how you got out to this half of the world?"  
"No, you should go back to sleep and get some rest."  
His words contradicted his yawn. "Ah, I've slept since the battle... It's probably Friday by now."  
Tallulah gently tapped the top of his head, smirking. "It's Saturday, and you've obviously still got a concussion."  
She capped the ointment, and picked up a large cotton ball that she'd left soaking in betadine.  
"I'm still asking how you got here." Leckie persisted, running a tired hand down his face, and cussing when he drug it through the sticky glop of ointment.  
Snorting, Tallulah tossed him a rag to wipe off his hands. "And I'm still asking for you to go back to sleep. You need to rest."  
He hissed as she touched the cotton swab to an infected cut on his forearm, and instantly she found herself talking to distract him.

"Well, I mean, it's not that miraculous. I just loaded up on a boat one day and came out here."  
An eyebrow raised, and Leckie's head cocked to the side, as if trying to see past her obvious vagueness. "Yeah right, I'm sure the navy pulled a couple stings for you to get on this ship. And what about that manager of yours?" Creases of contemplation wrinkled into his forehead, and it appeared that thinking pained him as much as his obliterating migraine. "And wait, you've even had some new pictures come out in a few magazines." He stared at her for as long as his eyes could maintain focus before beginning to ache and blur. "There was a shoot with some guys from camp Pendleton. You had on a marine's uniform."  
Tallulah almost giggled. She couldn't imagine Teola trying to fit into a uniform and look gung-ho with the soldiers.

"Been keeping up have ya?"  
Leckie snorted. "It's probable. But what the hell is going on? How did you get out here?"  
Tallulah sighed and soaked the cottonball in the betadine again, watching the white puffball absorb the orange liquid.  
She smiled to herself as she pulled the cotton from the bottle, and pressed it to his arm. "I have a twin sister."  
Leckie burst out laughing, at least until his chuckles turned into hacking coughs. "The quintessential excuse."  
Tallulah tossed the used swab into a trashbin, and gave him a unrepentant grin. "But I really do."  
Leckie reached for his pack of cigarettes, which Tallulah promptly snatched from his grasp.

"No shit?" He asked, groaning as she tossed the package of Lucky Strikes into the trash.  
She shook her head. "No shit. Her name is Teola, and well, we switched jobs."  
Leckie gave a little chuckle, as Tallulah uncapped a syringe of morphine. "Does she love it?"  
Tallulah shrugged, and raised the shot to her eyelevel to check the dosage. "I haven't heard from her. I'm assuming she likes it fine." She stuck the needle deep into Leckie's polished tricep. "Her fiancée died the other day."  
He winced at both the prick and the unhappy news. "Damn. She must be torn up."  
Tallulah's gaze was sad as she pressed a small bandage to the injection site. "I doubt she knows. They'll send me a letter, and I doubt she'll get one."  
Leckie shook his head, and stared up towards the ceiling, as if glancing heavenward could somehow alleviate the pain.  
"What a screwed up mess this is, huh?"

Tallulah remembered Hisako's words, and used them as her own, having nothing else to say in reply. "What funny things war does to us."  
Leckie glanced up at her, and angry glint in his green eyes. "I don't think it's funny at all. I think it's a fucked up catastrophe."  
Tallulah shrugged, and stood to leave- but Leckie called her back.  
"You got married didn't you?"  
Tallulah's left hand quickly moved to cover her right, concealing her ring finger from him. "Um, I'm not sure…"  
Leckie gave her a knowing smile. "I heard the drums and the singing. It was their wedding songs. And I couldn't help but notice your ring." His grin broadened as he thought of Johnny Reb, "It was your wedding wasn't it?"  
Tallulah's reluctant lips slid into a smile. At the thought of that perfect day, she found herself unable to contain her mouth's happy contour any longer. "Yeah. It was our wedding." She cast a few quick looks around her, "But shush! Don't-"  
Leckie rolled his eyes, and gave a small snort. "Yeah, yeah. I know. Don't tell anyone. It's not allowed."  
She laughed. "You know what else isn't allowed? Disobeying nurses' orders." Her finger flicked at the light switch, and suddenly his small room was bathed in a comfortable darkness. "So go back to sleep."  
He gave her a phony salute, before collapsing back onto his mound of pillows.

"Mam yes Mam."

x.x.x.x

"I see you puffing on that cigarette."

Eugene hardly moved at the sound of Sidney's chuckling. He just stared straight into the barrenness of the captured airfield that had been taken not by outmaneuvering the japs, but by being more expendable. There had been no tactics and no evasive movement- simply a blind charge the Americans were destined to win due to numbers alone. He'd seen how little life meant to the U.S. Army, as he watched a wave upon wave of marines charge the same concrete bunker, only to end up lying dead atop one another. Eugene tossed his cigarette into the dirt, and took a sip of the water from his canteen, which was really more a blend of fuel, oil and seawater.  
"Too late now! I saw you smoking it…"

Eugene didn't turn back to look at his friend. His eyes stayed fixated on the charred earth that he'd fought for- something that was rightfully his.  
"I saw you kissing Tallulah."  
Sid plopped down into the dirt beside his friend, preparing to brave the fallout he knew would be even more explosive than the recent shelling of Pelelieu. eyes "Eugene, I needed to talk to you about-"  
Eugene stood, unable to sit in the same foxhole with his adulterous brother.  
"What the hell is there to say Sid? That you've been fucking her all summer?"  
Sid pulled off his helmet, and held up a pair pleading hands that insulting to Eugene.  
Those same hands had also held Tallulah's curls, cheeks, breasts and hips. Those hands held her stolen heart.  
"But I haven't."  
Eugene snorted. "I saw you with her. That wasn't the first time you kissed her like that. But I hope to God it's the last!"  
Sid lowered palms. "You're right. It ain't the first time. I been with Tallulah since I got home on my leave. But you gotta know Gene, it wasn't never my intention."

There was another scoff from the Eugene, who stared down at Sidney, who still sat in the foxhole- not yet moved to anger.  
He was tempted to just drop his bayonet on the blonde's head.  
"So you didn't just jump off the troop ship saying 'I think today's the day to go steal my best friend's girl.' That's real nice of you Sid. Real damn nice."  
Sid scraped his nails against the dirt, trying to anchor himself to some part of the present, before his tempest memories threatened to sweep him away. He could still see her green eyes ablaze with wonder, and the excitement in her innocent smile. She looked like the war had never happened.  
"I got off the boat, and she was there 'Gene. She was all dressed up, and greeting us."  
"And that's when you made up your mind that she was as good as yours?"  
Sid's eyes were wide in the murky darkness, but narrowed in a hurtful anger.  
"No. She took me back to her apartment and we-"

A showering of rocks and pebbles pelted Sidney as Eugene's foot kicked the ground  
"Oh and I suppose that's conveniently where she 'welcomed you home from the war-'"  
Sid flung his helmet at Eugene, and succeeded in smacking him in the shin, before wiping the gravel dust out of his eyes.  
"Would you just shut up and listen to me? We went back to her place, and had dinner. And then she told me, she told me that you left her Eugene."  
Eugene made a halfhearted attempt to sling the helmet back at Sidney, but it was as if the words he was preparing to say exhausted him. "I not leaving her for long. I was gonna come back."  
"But you didn't tell her that."  
"I wasn't gonna have her waiting on me if I didn't come back!"  
Sid reached into his pocket, and his fingers clutched the same faithful pebble that had stayed there for the past two years.  
"But you know she would have waited Eugene. She would have done anything for you."  
"Except read between the lines. Except know me well enough to know that it was breaking my heart as much as it was hers!" Eugene shook his head, possibly realizing the stupidity of his own actions. "Whatever. Then what happened?"  
"And then we talked. And then she left for work. And I didn't touch her, if that's all you're worried about."  
Eugene's voice was pained. "She was mine Sidney. She loved me. I loved her."

Sid's fingers stroked the small rock, tracing the contour of its curves, and rubbing the smoothness of its polished surface.  
As his fingertips tracing the cool edges of the indigo stone, he found himself unapologetic.  
"And now she's mine- and I love her too."  
They had always had things in common, him and Eugene.  
Their favorite color was blue. Their favorite sport was baseball. Their favorite flavor of ice cream was butter pecan. They both hated splintery boardwalks. Even their favorite cartoon was the same. But now, somehow, they both had her in common, and each believed Tallulah was rightfully and exclusively theirs.  
"She'll never be yours." Eugene hissed, his words spitting out like gunfire from an automatic Thompson.  
Sid touched his ivory wedding band, as gently as if he were touching her pale cheek. "I married her Eugene."  
"Doesn't mean nothing." Eugene spewed.  
"Means everything to me."

Eugene's hands flying around as if to pull reasons out of the dark air. "Where was the priest? Where's the prenup? Where's the marriage license? The certificate? The witness? Did you realize it's illgal? Nurses can't be married." He gave a scoffing laugh that was bitter, and hateful. "You've got no legal ground Sidney. That marriage is as null and void in any court, in any town hall."  
"And in my heart? In hers? In God's eyes?"  
Eugene shook his head, "Ain't it only 'in the eyes of the law' that matters?"  
"Not in my book."  
Eugene said nothing, but kicked at the cigarette that lay in the dirt, the last of its embers slowly dying. "Ain't nobody gonna care what you say."  
Sid retrieved his helmet from the ground, and while the dirt dusted off, the patterned scratches that came from diving to the ground, didn't.  
"Did you recognize her?"  
"Why does it matter?"  
"Did you?"  
Eugene's answer was defensive. "Nah, I didn't get to see her in person like you did."  
"But I knew something was familiar. Couldn't really put my finger on it at first- but then I knew it was the eyes. Did you see that?"

Eugene could feel the guilt raining down on him like the little pieces of dirt, rock and shrapnel that fell from the sky after a shelling.  
He wanted to confess everything to his friend, to tell him just how horrible it was, not being able to recognize his fiancés stare.  
But he couldn't, because his friend, his brother, was the very man who had.  
The man who had seen through the hairdye, and the airbrushed skin.  
The man who had seen through the skimpy outfits and exotic settings.  
His friend was the one that had seen through every other distraction, and managed to see Tallulah, and not Essie.  
And for that, Eugene wondered, if Sidney really loved her more.

Eugene said nothing, but stared off into space attempting to formulate an answer.  
But Sid continued. "I didn't touch her back at the apartment. If that is your main concern."  
"What else happened at the apartment?"  
"Well, that's when I realized she was dying."  
Eugene's gaze flashed down to Sid, and for a moment their eyes held the same mutual concern.  
"Dying?"  
"She was dying Eugene. I'd never seen so many bottles of Vodka in my life. She had 'em stacked under the bed. And she hid the cognac in her dresser." Sid's voice lowered to a whisper, barely audible above the constant thudding of the battleship's guns. "I think she was dying on the inside."  
Eugene's stare was angry again; his face red and flushing, hot with hate. "Don't do this Sid. Don't make yourself the fucking hero. Don't even tell me you saved her."  
Sid glared up at him. "I don't know who saved her. I don't know what saved her." He rose up from the muddy cavity carved into the earth to somehow keep soldiers alive.  
"But I do know that it was you who was killing her."

Eugene strode towards his friend, his eyes throwing punches long before his fists could clench into balls. "And now, you're killing her. Don't you see Sidney? Don't you get it? You killing her now, by making her wait. Wait every day to see if she sees you, wait every day to know that you're not dead. That's also going to kill her."  
"I don't-"  
"I loved her so much that I left her!" Eugene yelled, "I didn't want her waiting on a dead man. I left her so that the ring she wore on her left hand wouldn't tie her to a corpse."  
"And we wear our rings on the right-"  
Eugene swung first, his fist landing in a blackout sweetspot between eye and nose.  
Sid stumbled backward, his vision blurring as he fell back to the ground.  
"Love ain't always a competition…" Sid muttered, wiping the blood that trickled from the corner of his mouth.  
"Then why is it always something ya either win or lose?"

Sid staggered to his feet and rushed his friend, fists flailing in the darkness.  
"Why'd you have to love her?" Eugene cried, as he felt a blunt jab in the ribs. "Why'd you have to love her?"  
After another moment of tussling, Sid backed away, his breathing ragged. "Do you really get to pick who you love?"  
"All I know." Eugene panted, "Is that you could have picked me or you could have picked her." And by marrying her you chose neither. By keeping her waiting- You're choosing you."

Sid said nothing, but reached deep into his pocket again, pulling out a pack of cigarettes.  
He tossed them at Eugene, who caught the carton, and stared down at it.

"We're moving into the hills tomorrow." Sid told him, throwing a glance over his shoulder that was skinned from their tussle. "You'll want these."

x.x.x.x  
"Welcome to the beach ladies. Come on in, the water's fine! I'm Elliot, by the way."

Tallulah couldn't manage a friendly chuckle at the corpsman's halfhearted attempt to be funny.  
There was nothing funny about the scene that lay before them.  
She wasn't sure there was anything comical about the stacks of bodies piled on both sides of the barbed wire fence that had obviously been somewhat effective. The sand wasn't fine and smooth like on Banika, it was course and gravelly, like the dirt roads in Alabama. It wasn't white either. Large areas of sand were stained a sickening shade of orange, dyed from vast amount of blood that had been spilled. Pieces of torn skin littered the beach like fleshy seashells. And the sickening smell of burning flesh, and salt combined to make a noxious aroma that hung low in the air over the beach. This was no paradise; this was simply hell's fallout. Tallulah's eyes flashed down to a large crater in the sand, filled with various severed body parts.

"A shell." Hisako whispered, in a voice that seemed far too calm. How could she not be unnerved by the torsos separated from sprawling legs? The decapitated heads? The still open eyes that gazed with hauntingly blank stare only the dead can?

"This is the aid station." The private's voice diverted her attention away for the hole of dismembered parts.

But the sight that his hand waved to show her was hardly more encouraging. The aid station itself looked like it had been shelled. Splintered palm planks had been nailed together to create a haphazard, makeshift structure that looked like it would fall during the next storm. The roof was simply dead palm branches thrown atop one another, and the only door was a tattered mosquito net.  
Elliot beckoned for the nurses to follow him inside, although Tallulah doubted the entire group would fit.  
With one last glance to the dilapidated exterior, Tallulah realized she was even more afraid to see what lay inside.  
But she batted away the mosquito net anyways, and suddenly struck by the heavy scent of quinine suspended in the dark air of the shack.  
That smell alone was probably more effective at keeping the mosquitoes away than the broken net.

"This is our main ward." Elliot announced, gesturing around the room. "We've got a supply closet to the left, and another holding area to the right."  
The entire palm hut could have fit inside the Solace's main boiler. Plasma hung from stands made out of bamboo, and Tallulah's eyes widened at the sight of coconuts with tubing that were obviously serving as IV bags. Tallulah stared down at the flushed faces that stared up at her from their makeshift beds made from green fronds placed upon the shaded sand. Their bodies racked with shivers in the 115 degree heat, and they were covered with the uniforms of dead men, serving as blankets.

"Malaria was our biggest killer." he remarked, "Until about a week ago."  
Tallulah saw Kelly raise a nervous hand. "And where are the casualties from the battle?"  
The corpsman raised his eyebrows. "Dunno, heaven or hell I suppose."  
Tallulah could see that Kelly was about to protest, to ask for a real answer, when the corpsman continued. "We buried everyone a few days back up on that ridge. Anyone whose not up there, is on your boat…"  
Tallulah could hear a throat clearing, and she glanced down at the sandy floor to see an soldier with his entire chest bandaged, tugging on the edge of Elliot's pants.  
Laughing, Elliot swatted his hand away, and motioned down to the floor. "Oh yeah, I almost forgot! This is Ryland."  
"I thought everyone was dead." Tallulah muttered.  
"Everyone except Ryland." Elliot joked, as Ryland swung a feeble punch at his comrade. "Although he talks about as much as a dead person… Vocal chords were shattered in an explosion." Ryland rolled his eyes, and made a few faces behind Elliot's back that caused some of the nurses to giggle.  
Tallulah shook her head, maybe this playful attitude was the only way the corpsman and the marines kept their sanity.

"Well, that's that ladies!" Elliot wiped his hands off as if he was wiping his hands clean of the tour. "I know you all will be on rotation here, so I look forward to seeing you." He chuckled, "I know Ryland does too."  
From the floor, Ryland nodded and grinned, as Elliot led the nurses outside.  
"So who's the lucky lady on rotation first?"  
Hisako pointed to Tallulah. "Nurse Adams."  
Tallulah whirled around to face her friend, "Why me? I'm-"  
Hisako grabbed her arm, and yanked Tallulah's closer. "I'll explain later."  
Elliot smiled. "Well, in that case, welcome to Pelelieu Nurse Adams."  
x.x.x.x

Suddenly the sounds of the greedy gulls calls and the gentle splash of the waves were broken by a sickening crash and a tormented scream.  
Tallulah whirled around she saw the thick green fronds covering a far more horrifying scene: a soldier impaled by a splintered palm plank.  
"Someone get Étienne!" Elliot bellowed, as he ran towards the man, motioning that Tallulah should follow. Tallulah dared to look down at him, and soon wished she hadn't, as she had to hold her mouth to keep from gagging. The man's eyes were glazed over and the blood poured from his chest, and pooled into hot puddles in the sand. He was still breathing, even if it was shakily. His tortured eyes gazed up at the men around him, and pleaded for help. Elliot ran up to the marine, and looked around at the circle of sailors.  
"Étienne? Where the hell is Étienne?" He yelled.

Abruptly a young man charged through the crowd, and bent down to see the injured marine. He wore nothing but a pair of dungarees he had converted into shorts, and a stethoscope he carried against his bare chest.  
"Étienne." The soldier breathed as the young doctor felt the pulse under his chin.  
Étienne smiled and the man seemed reassured by his mere presence. Tallulah released her hold on her mouth letand watched as Étienne felt the skin around the impaled site. Numbers began piling in her head, safe ones and immediate twos and fatal threes. And when the man began to writhe and scream she found she was unable to escape the bombardment of triage digits.

His face grim, Étienne rose and whispered something to Elliot. "Go on!" Elliot yelled at the crowd. "Get outta here!"  
The men slowly dispersed, obviously tempted to hover around their wounded crewmen. Tallulah didn't know if she should go, but Elliots's eyes told her to stay with him.  
Étienne Looked up at Elliot. "Hours." He whispered.  
Tallulah's eyes widened and her face held horror. "You'll try won't you?" She pleaded, grabbing the doctor's shoulder, despite knowing that the man was undoubtedly a three and that he was certainly going to die.  
"I'll have you know that I always try." Étienne rasped, shooting her a glare. "If I remove the board, he will bleed out and be dead in a matter of hours; if I leave it in, he'll die of shock and be dead in another matter of hours."

Étienne bent down to speak to the man, and the sailor closed his eyes and nodded his head resignedly. "Take it out of me." He stammered. "Take it out, and make my cross out of it."  
Étienne squeezed his hand. "This will be excruciatingly painful." He informed, wondering if the sailor would change his answer.  
"It hurts like hell now anyways."  
Étienne turned to Tallulah. "Hold his hand, and prepare to have you own pop out of joint."  
Tallulah sat down next to the man, and gave him her hand.  
"Thank you." He breathed, as Elliot grabbed his shoulders.

Tallulah tried to flash him a smile, but found her lips were stationary. So she squeezed his hand and prepared for the pressure on hers, When Étienne gripped the board the man screamed and tried to wriggle away from it, but Elliot's strong hands held him in place. The man clapped down on Tallulah's hand, and he screamed in agony as Étienne pulled up on the plank. With one last cry and one last pull from Étienne the plank came free. When the board tore from the body cavity, there was a moment of perfect relaxation. Elliot's grip relaxed, Tallulah let out a sigh, Étienne tossed the bloody board away and all that could be heard was the man's heavy breathing. However, the moment was short lived. But the moment was short lived. Blood started squirting and gushing up from the wound, and the man screamed again while Tallulah shoved her hands into the cavity, blindly feeling around for the ruptured artery. Elliot tore off his shirt and handed it to Tallulah who immediately plugged the wound with the cloth.

But soon the white tee shirt had been dyed crimson, and the marine's ripped open chest ceased to rise, or fall.  
Tallulah withdrew her hands from the man's innards, feeling various slimy tubes and structures sliding back into place.  
She lowered her head, willing the onsetting tears to stay behind her downcast lashes.  
Étienne repositioned the stethoscope around his shoulders, and picked up the murderous plank.

"Got your bayonet Elliot?" Étienne asked.  
Elliot nodded, and tossed him the knife.  
"What should we do with the body?"  
Tallulah didn't want them to move the body. Her own forehead rested on the man's spilt chest, and she could feel his blood marking her, just as she would have marked him with her pen.  
"I'll deal with it." Étienne ordered, "But I'm going to make this cross."

x.x.x.x

Teola lay lounging on her balcony, soaking up the wonderful combination of the warm California breeze and sun. A colorful, fruity drink sat beside her, along with a stack of fanmail she had yet to process. The sweet scent of oleander blended with the salty wind as it wafted over scruffy trees and reached her third story porch. In her hand she held her latest letter from Tom, which she was in the process of re-reading for the twentieth time.

_Dear Teola, _  
_I don't know if I can ever tell you how much I miss summer, or more importantly, you. _  
_It seems like it's been forever since you were shimmying up a column to get into my room, or I was tossing rocks at your window. But, that's what I wanted to talk to you about. Forever. _  
_Just keep remembering that as soon as I get home, we'll be married. Husband and wife, for forever and eternity. _  
_I can't wait to see you again Teola, somewhere other than my dreams anyways. _  
_We're steaming to an island called Pelelieu, and waiting for the orders to invade. I know it scares you, but everything is alright, Teola. Everything will be alright. Because I have you, nothing can touch me. _  
_I love you, _  
_Tom _

"Did you want them red Miss?"  
Startled, Teola jumped a at the sound of the close voice. Then she glanced down towards her toes that were spread apart by a piece of white foam.  
She'd completely forgotten that she was getting a pedicure.  
She smiled down at the stylist, Laura, she thought her name was.  
"Yes, please. Frank said red."  
"Interesting. I'd expected you to pick green."  
Teola glanced up to see Frank hovering behind her.  
Quickly, she pressed the Tom's letter to her chest, concealing the sacred text from Frank's prying eyes.

Frank shot the manicurist a cold smile, "Could you give us a moment, uhh Laura?"  
The woman nodded, and stuffed another sculpted piece of foam between Teola's toes. "Almost dry. Just keep 'em still Miss Adams."  
Teola nodded her thanks, while Frank took a seat across from her.  
"Care for anything to drink?" Teola asked, stark coolness cutting through her preliminary show of politeness.  
Frank shook his head, while Teola lifted her daiquiri to her lips and gulped down a few sips.  
"I have a letter for you…" He reached into the pocket of his immaculately styled suit, and pulled out a small piece of paper.  
He handed it to Teola, who cast a suspicious glance at the crumpled letter.  
Tattletale creases ran along it's edges, showing that it had been already opened and read.  
But she unfolded it anyways, and her eyes scanned across the paper.

_Dear Tallulah_,

Teola paused. Of course, the switch. She was Tallulah. Although this information was actually meant for her sister, she'd play along.

_I don't know if you realized this, but about two months ago, Teola joined the nurse core. It's been a living hell trying to keep up with her. Your father and I think she is probably far too busy to return any of our letters, as it seems you yourself have been since the end of summer. I don't know if you remember Tom? Teola's boyfriend? We received the news at church yesterday, that he had succumbed to his injuries from a flamethrower, in the Peleliu campaign… _

The letter dropped from Teola's hand, and fluttered to the floor on the warm seabreeze.  
Succumbed to his injuries? Wasn't that just a nicer way of saying that Tom had been killed?  
Tom had been killed?  
Tom was dead?

Teola's heart sunk into her chest, and she toppled off her reclining chain and onto the floor, as a mere sentence shattered all her memories of the past, thoughts in the present, and plans for the future.  
He couldn't be dead, not after all they had talked about, and not after all they had done.  
Not after all the promises they'd made.

Suddenly, she slammed by wave upon wave of disbelieving sadness that left her nauseous, gasping for breath, and clinging to the edge of the table.  
"Tom is dead?" Teola asked, wondering why she even wanted to hear the words from Frank.  
He simply nodded, but instead of staring up into a gaze of sympathy, Teola found anger in the eyes that hid behind his thick-rimmed glasses.  
"But I think the real question here, is who is Tom?" He paused and folded his arms across his chest.

"And more importantly- who the hell are you?"

x.x.x.x

Tallulah had hoped his eyes would have remained closed, and his breathing clam and steady. She had hoped he would remain asleep, and comfortable. But his eyes flickered at the sensation of the large bandage on his chest being peeled away, and sooner than she had hoped, Tallulah was staring down into the brown eyes of the only injured marine left at the Pelelieu aid station.

"Well good evening…" She greeted, tossing the soiled bandage aside. "How are you feeling?"  
And then she remembered that he couldn't talk- that his vocal chords had been shattered in some sort of explosion. He hadn't lost his head, his arms, or his leg- only his ability to speak.  
He gave her a grin, and Tallulah figured it signaled that he felt fine.  
"Well that's good." She noted, trying to find something to talk about with someone who physically couldn't say anything.  
"You're Ryland aren't you?"  
He nodded, and his floppy brown curls fell down into his eyes as he bent over, reaching for the sand. She was about to ask him what he was doing, to tell him to sit back up- she didn't want his entire chest to split open again.

When he finally collapsed back into his makeshift cot, Tallulah glanced down at where his fingers had been running through the sand. She could read it as clearly as she had read Eugene's scrawl that asked her to marry him that day on the beach. He had written his full name in the sand, and she smiled at how childlike his rudimentary letters were.  
"Ryland Tyree." She murmured, feeling the buttery name slide over her tongue like a familiar and comforting food. "Where ya from Ryland?" With a grunt, he adjusted again so he could write in the sand, and his fingers scribbled the answer. "Baton Rouge."  
She grinned, she had known he was southern. "I'm from Mobile."  
Ryland smiled back, and pointed to her mouth, which Tallulah proceeded to grasp self-consciously.

"What?" She asked, hoping that she didn't still have last night's rice stuck in the gap between her front teeth. He chuckled, and lifted a hand to hers, prying it away from her lips.  
"Oh my accent?" She asked, finally understanding. "You knew I where I was from because of my accent?"

He nodded with such enthusiasm, Tallulah felt he would certainty need a neck brace. Laughing, she picked up a pan of water and a bottle of saline solution. She wrung out the towel, and doused it with the antiseptic solution, and turned towards Ryland. "You know how this works?"  
He nodded, and pretended to wipe a towel back and forth on an imaginary surface.  
She laughed, and pressed the towel to one of his many lacerations. "You're a pro!"  
She was careful not to let the fabric rub too hard against the torn and broken flesh, and she gave him a sympathetic glance when she saw him cringe when she picked up the container of antiseptic rinse.

"This part isn't so fun huh?" She asked, while he shook his head. She squirted the stringent liquid into the site of his lacerations, and watched angry, fizzing bubbles instantly jump to the surface. He cringed, and Tallulah watched his jaw lock as she doused the wound once more. Her gaze wandered over his tattered chest, which appeared it had been polka-dotted by bullet holes. He still had a long way to go. She counted, pointing to each puncture and individually numbering it. Ryland rolled his eyes, and quickly scribbled a number in the sand.

"15 wounds..." She stated, "You sure are a lucky guy…"  
His fingers began moving again, and it took him a few moments, but he finished he had written an entire sentence.  
"I'm the only guy."  
Shaking her head in confusion, Tallulah suppressed a bewildered smile. "How can you even joke about it?"  
Ryland continued writing... "Better than crying about it."  
She sighed, and immersed the rag back into the pan full of water. "I suppose it is."  
She turned to him again, her fingers accessing the condition of another bullet wound, but he pointed towards the ground. Tallulah glanced down into the sand, to see he had drawn a scoreboard, a running tally.  
Laughing, she picked up the saline bottle once again, "1 down, 14 to go."

x.x.x.x

"Who the hell was she?"  
That was a great question. A question that she was slowly loosing the answer to the more and more shoots, movies and appearances she did.  
It was the same question that had plagued her sister, and driven her into the Pacific.  
But a better question- is who did she want to be? Who should she be?  
In this exact instance, she had a choice. She could choose to tell the truth, and admit that she was Teola, not Tallulah.  
Or she could choose to conceal her sister's secret.

"What do you mean? I'm Essie Jo!"  
Frank gave a cold laugh, that sounded like a dog's dying bark. "You've always made it very adamant to me that you aren't Essie Jo."  
"Well I am. To you anyways."  
"Who are you?"  
"Essie Jo. That's all that matters isn't it?"  
Frank snarled. "That was always the last thing to matter to you And suddenly it means something?"  
"It means nothing Frank. It means fucking nothing to me. But that's all I am to you, I get that now. In your mind, Tallulah is dead. All I am is Essie Jo. And that's all that matters."  
"Why are you so upset over Tom? He was your sister's finance."

Teola's mind went blank at the mention of his name, as if nothing else could exist in her troubled conscious except for those three letters.  
She didn't see the tops of the scruffy trees, but a field in which they would reunite, running headlong into his arms.  
She could no longer see Frank standing in front of her, but a preacher awaiting her vows she'd never get to make.  
She no longer saw that stylish room, but a vision of him dying on a beach, his blood spilling hot and wet into the awaiting sand.  
And in that moment, she couldn't lie anymore.  
She was tired of it.  
All that mattered was the truth.  
No matter who was saying it.  
Tom deserved that much.

"Because I loved him." She whispered, the words riding on the fumes of her sigh. "I loved him."  
Franks eyes widened. "You loved him?"  
"Of course I did."  
"But what about Eugene?"  
"He never mattered."  
"Really Tallulah? Eugene never mattered?"  
Teola took a deep breath, as a picture of her sister burying vodka in the backyard flashed to her mind. "He doesn't matter anymore."  
Frank smiled, and it took every once of Teola's restraint to not claw the curve off his lips. She didn't know how someone could smile in such a situation. He must have been dead inside. Soulless.  
"You have no idea how long I've waited to hear you say that Miss Adams."  
She glared up at him, fingers drumming against the tabletop.

"And you have no idea how long I've been waiting for you to leave."


	32. All This Life Part I

**Well, three months later, hello to all again :) Sorry it's been eons since I've updated, excuses are the same- school blows.  
Thanks to all my wonderful reviewers. BerthaJorkins, Witchbaby3000, BloodUpontheRisers, and my lovely Ber1719 :) I hope ya'll are still lurking around here somewhere!  
I hope everyone enjoys this chapter! And just as a note, I added another scene between Teola and Frank to Chapter 31. So ya'll might wanna check that out.  
Hope everyone's doing well!  
-EllieMayy  
**

She had hoped his eyes would have remained closed, and his breathing clam and steady. She had hoped he would remain asleep, and comfortable. But his eyes flickered at the sensation of the large bandage on his chest being peeled away, and sooner than she had hoped, Tallulah was staring down into the brown eyes of the only injured marine left at the Pelelieu aid station.

"Well good evening…" She greeted, tossing the soiled bandage aside. "How are you feeling?"  
And then she remembered that he couldn't talk- that his vocal chords had been shattered in some sort of explosion. He hadn't lost his head, his arms, or his leg- only his ability to speak.  
He gave her a grin, and Tallulah figured it signaled that he felt fine.  
"Well that's good." She noted, trying to find something to talk about with someone who physically couldn't say anything.  
"You're Ryland aren't you?"

He nodded, and his floppy brown curls fell down into his eyes as he bent over, reaching for the sand.  
She was about to ask him what he was doing, to tell him to sit back up- she didn't want his entire chest to split open again.  
When he finally collapsed back into his makeshift cot, Tallulah glanced down at where his fingers had been running through the sand. She could read it as clearly as she had read Eugene's scrawl that asked her to marry him that day on the beach. He had written his full name in the sand, and she smiled at how childlike his rudimentary letters were.

"Ryland Tyree." She murmured, feeling the buttery name slide over her tongue like a familiar and comforting food. "Where ya from Ryland?" With a grunt, he adjusted again so he could write in the sand, and his fingers scribbled the answer. "Baton Rouge."  
She grinned, she had known he was southern. "I'm from Mobile."  
Ryland smiled back, and pointed to her mouth, which Tallulah proceeded to grasp self-consciously.  
"What?" She asked, hoping that she didn't still have last night's rice stuck in the gap between her front teeth. He chuckled, and lifted a hand to hers, prying it away from her lips.  
"Oh my accent?" She asked, finally understanding. "You knew I where I was from because of my accent?"  
He nodded with such enthusiasm, Tallulah felt he would certainty need a neck brace. Laughing, she picked up a pan of water and a bottle of saline solution. She wrung out the towel, and doused it with the antiseptic solution, and turned towards Ryland.

"You know how this works?"  
He nodded, and pretended to wipe a towel back and forth on an imaginary surface.  
She laughed, and pressed the towel to one of his many lacerations. "You're a pro!"  
She was careful not to let the fabric rub too hard against the torn and broken flesh, and she gave him a sympathetic glance when she saw him cringe when she picked up the container of antiseptic rinse.  
"This part isn't so fun huh?" She asked, while he shook his head. She squirted the stringent liquid into the site of his lacerations, and watched angry, fizzing bubbles instantly jump to the surface.  
He cringed, and Tallulah watched his jaw lock as she doused the wound once more. Her gaze wandered over his tattered chest, which appeared it had been polka-dotted by bullet holes. He still had a long way to go. She counted, pointing to each puncture and individually numbering it.

Ryland rolled his eyes, and quickly scribbled a number in the sand.  
"15." She stated, "You sure are a lucky guy…"  
His fingers began moving again, and it took him a few moments, but he finished he had written an entire sentence.  
"I'm the only guy."  
Shaking her head in confusion, Tallulah suppressed a bewildered smile. "How can you even joke about it?"  
Ryland continued writing... "Better than crying about it."  
She sighed, and immersed the rag back into the pan full of water. "I suppose it is."  
She turned to him again, her fingers accessing the condition of another bullet wound, but he pointed towards the ground. Tallulah glanced down into the sand, to see he had drawn a scoreboard, a running tally.

Laughing, she picked up the saline bottle once again, "1 down, 14 to go."

x.x.x.x

Tallulah batted away the pointless mosquito net, careful not to wake the sleeping man at the aid station. She plunged into the crisp night air that was doused with the moisture of the dark sea that surrounded the island. She took a deep breath of the fresh twilight, her body welcoming it with each inhalation, thankful to smell something other that isopropyl alcohol.

In the distance, she could see the Solace. The ships solid, steel frame stood out like a chunky cutout against the intangible sky, splattered with stars, and illuminated by the moonlight. Tallulah's hand wrapped around the skinny trunk of the nearest palm, as she attempted to ground herself. She felt wonderfully small and insubstantial underneath the enormous sky, and only feet above the vast sea. She turned her head upwards, feeling the edges of her long curls swiping the small of her back. The stars had never looked any brighter, and the moon had never seemed so large. Even after eighteen years of living by the sea, the exciting aroma of the salt water had never smelled so exhilarating, as in that one moment when she had freed herself from the confines of the aid station.

Tonight, she could see Sidney in everything, she feel him in everything. His image had no place in the smoke filled, powder-encrusted, blood soaked daylight that illuminated the battlefield beaches. But at night, under the cleansing cover of darkness, she could see him in everything. The bluish glow of the stars was almost as bright as his eyes. The rippled surface of the glowing moon wasn't quite as pearly as his grin. Even the cool breeze that flirted with the edges of her linen skirt, reminded her of his soft breath.

There was a muffled thudding behind her, and Tallulah turned to find the source of the noise. Emerging from the shadows of the palms, was the same shirtless doctor she'd met earlier today. He carried the fateful palm plank that he'd fashioned into a cross, and a small bucket.  
Tallulah gave a small nod, and turned to leave, but he called out to her.

"Please, a moment Miss."  
Tallulah whirled around once more, and he jogged up to her.  
"We didn't meet properly this morning." He held out a calloused hand that was much rougher that his soft voice. "I'm Doctor Etienne Abel."  
Tallulah's hand slid into his, and she was actually surprised not to feel slick blood, a raging pulse, or an eerie coolness.  
Lately, she'd only held the hands of the dying.  
And Ryland.

"I'm Teola Adams." She told him, her eyebrows raising a bit as he lifted her hand to kiss it.  
"Pleasure Mademoiselle. And where does one acquire such a name?"  
Tallulah grinned, his eccentric accent and manners finally making sense. "Mobile Alabama, Doctor Abel."  
He shook his head fervently. "Call me Etienne, everyone does."  
She smiled again. "And where does one get such a name?"  
Laughing, Etienne took a seat in the sand, by the edge of the water. "Paris, France."  
"And how does one get from paris, france get all the way to pelelieu?"

It was Etienne's turn to grin, as he placed the cross in the pathways of the lapping waves.  
Tallulah watched as the gentle tide beat against the wood, washing away all the shavings.  
"The same way an actress and model from Hollywood gets here. A little persuasion, a little training, a little luck."

His words shattered the peace that she had found in his smooth voice, and the lulling ocean. His words shattered the security she'd felt staring up into gleaming stars that reminded her of Sidney's blazing blue eyes. His words transported her back to a hellish balcony, that overlooked the scruff tops of California oaks, where the odor of cigarette smoke almost stifled that of the salty seabreeze, where bottles of vodka littered the tables, railings and where piece of broken glass infested the flooring, and the concrete veranda was stained with her own blood from slits on her bare feet. The place was a battlefield in itself.

But she could not lie to him. She was so damn tired of lying. She'd told more lies in her adult life than she'd ever told as a child. After all, she did lie for a living. She never understood people who though she actually looked anything like her pictures. Or people who thought that god awful champagne actually tasted good? Or people that thought if they bought a red chevy convertible, that some hot blonde spread her legs across their hood.  
As she glanced over at the French doctor, she found that no denial seeped through her lips.

"How did you know?"  
He scrubbed a little at the cross, "Your commander told me, since you work for both of us now."  
Tallulah nodded, and outstretched her hand once more. "In that case, we didn't meet properly then either Etienne."  
She took his hand, which was dripping with seawater. "I'm Tallulah."  
He grinned, "And I'm still Etienne."  
"And I'm so glad."  
Etienne glanced up at her. "So why are you here Madame? What mate you leave Hollywood?"  
Tallulah watched the small waves lap at the cross; the wood was slowly loosing its orange tint.  
"Have you ever been somewhere, that you couldn't take? Somewhere that was stifling?"  
There was a horrible shining in Etienne's dark eyes.  
A dangerously wet covering slid over his irises, that in one blink could turn to tears.  
"Of course."

She was glad that he understood her- that he understood that places could be murderers too. "I couldn't stay anymore. I missed Sidney. I missed my home. I missed my family. I missed myself." She paused, and her eyes flickered to his. "She isn't me you know?"  
"Of course. You are far more beautiful. Far more soulful."  
Tallulah smiled, "I have a soul? Why thank you!"  
Etienne didn't laugh at all, in fact, it seemed his hid compliment was serious. "Too many do not. If they saw what happens in French trenches, or these islands, it wouldn't all go on. It couldn't all go on. But they are soulless, and war has no conscious. War has no use for souls, only bodies.  
Tallulah didn't want to compare the global fight to modeling, but the water in Etienne's eyes begged her to ask another question.

"You had to leave France didn't you?  
"Could you stay in a place where your family was slaughtered by big, black, dead things, released by men that are even deader inside?"  
"Your family?" Tallulah dared to ask.  
"My mother, my father, my two brothers, and my sister. My finacee too."  
And Tallulah had only lost herself.  
Modeling and Esquire and Eugene's departure had only cost her herself, her identity. It was the war that pushed her into Sidney's arms, the war that brought her home, and the war that freed her from Essie Jo. And her family, even though they weren't on speaking terms, was still safe in Mobile.  
But the war had cost Etienne everything. His family, his home, and his love. Eugene's words bombarded her mind, clawing their way into her unwilling conscious.  
"_It's all about you isn't it Tallulah? You love yourself more than you could ever love anyone else. Tallulah loves Tallulah._"  
Maybe he'd been right.  
Maybe she was selfish.

"I'm so sorry."  
Etienne's saddened smile was torturous to look at, "It was not your fault."  
"I can still be sorry."  
"I should be sorry. I was the one who ran off to college."  
Tallulah could see the scene in her mind.

Etienne returning home, suitcases in hand. He hops out of the car, and jogs up the countryside road. The further he walks, the more the springtime oaks look like dead trees in the middle of winter. He couldn't smell the wisteria winding around the timbers of the footbridge that crossed the small creek, because the air was filled with smoke. It hung low in the air, like a foul smelling fog. And when he reaches the end of the trail, there is no longer a stone cottage, but a deep, gaping hole in the familiar earth. The suitcases drop from his hands, as he drops to his knees upon seeing six new graves dug into the ground. The upturned earth is still warm.

Tallulah shook her head, unable to that the image any longer. "Was it?"  
Etienne's hand ran along the length of the cross. "It is just as you imagine."  
"I understand why you couldn't stay."  
"I went back to college and ran from the draft, just like I'd run from working in the woods with my father and brothers. I finished my last semester at the university, and came to American to join as a field surgeon. No one understands that I can't kill. Everyone in France though I should want to go to the front and avenge. But if everyone did that-This would never stop."

His hands clutched the wooden gravemarker, and the blood drained out while his knuckled turned deathly pale. "And it has to end. It can't go on."  
"Some say we're defending the free world."  
Etienne was quiet for a moment, as he lifted the cross from the water, finally satisfied. "I don't know if freedom is really worth all this life. Sometimes I think we will never be free from what we've seen and what we've done."  
Tallulah glanced up at him, her rosebud lips dripping open into a full bloom of surprise. She'd never heard anyone speak of the war this way.  
"I don't think we'll ever be free from missing those that have been lost. I don't think after this we'll ever be free from grief. Or sadness."  
As Tallulah stared back up at him, she noticed that there was no watering in his dark eyes.  
It was as if the tears had frozen solid, leaving only icy resolution in his gaze.

"I don't know if living in a free world is worth living in a world free of those we love."

x.x.x.x

And the weeks passed…  
And to the surprise of everyone on the beach or the boat, the weeks passed uneventfully. Etienne buried the impaled sailor, and marked his grave with the cross, carved by craftsman's hands expert. He'd made six others before. Hisako continued her reign as charge Nurse on the Solace, while Tallulah continued to remain on the Island, caring for Ryland and whatever other soldier made it down from the Pelelieu hills. Most died on the rocks, before they could make it back to the beach.

She hadn't seen Sidney since the day she'd seen Eugene, and with every explosion, she wondered if she'd been made a widow. She had virgin hands again; hands that were used only to innocently clean Ryland's wounds, instead of issue sentences. And then one trickling of wounded men down from the hillside turned into a full-fledged flood. And the streams ran red with blood, heralding the onset of the attack. Finally, after weeks of stalemate, after weeks of sniping, after weeks of attrition along the razor sharp ridges- there would be blood. And maybe, after this blood was spilled, the war would be a little closer to over.

x.x.x.x

There was a sudden thudding, and Tallulah could feel the vibrations pounding against her cheek, as she lay face down in the sand. She knew it wasn't the explosions- those had been going on for days. Someone was bombing the hell out of someone else in those hills. She only hoped the marines weren't on the receiving end. More pounding, and then finally a prod to the shoulder.

Instantly he knew it was Ryland, he probably needed water, or maybe one of his stitches has burst. She buried her face deeper into her arm, which sunk deeper into the sand floor of the aidstation. She liked being on the island, rather than the boat, except for the food. They'd eaten boiled rice and boiled rice only for the past two weeks, and the mush made her fact, it was her stomach that begged her to stay sprawled out on the sand, still and unmoving. She feared she might hurl last night's rice into the same bucket, she'd hurled yesterday's lunch. And breakfast. And the dinner before that.  
But Ryland kept poking her, and with a groan she rolled over, wincing at the bright light that filled the tented aid station. She could have sworn it had been dark only moments ago.

"Whatcha need Ryland?" She asked, grimacing while she pushed herself to a sitting position. From his cot Ryland made frantic gestures towards the outside. His hands flew to the air, fingers flashing, fists contracting.  
Neither knew any formal sign language, but over the course of the past month, they'd developed their own system of manual communication.  
"There's an attack?"  
He nodded, and lowered his hands, but only momentarily, before pointing to the Solace, which was floating a few hundred yards offshore.  
"I need to go over there?"  
Ryland shook his head, and motioned once again from the boat towards Tallulah.  
"Oh, they're coming over here?"

He nodded, and scribbled something in the sand. She was thankful that their entire living quarters was a writeable surface, something Ryland could scrawl on. He wasn't a very good speller, and sometimes, some of his letters were backwards- but she always understood him.  
She glanced down at his words.  
"Hisako's coming. Triage."

He glanced up at her, and watched her throw her head back in disappointment. She'd escaped passing judgment for more than a month. She'd been a nurse, a caretaker, a healer instead of an undertaker.  
She nodded and turned to go. "Do you need anything?"  
He shook his head, and pointed towards her, and then motioned towards the bucket full of three day's worth of vomited rice. His eyebrows furrowed, and he scribbled in the sand. "OK?"  
She nodded once more, and pointed her own finger back towards his cot. "Get some rest Ryland." She commanded.  
He shook his head, and Tallulah watched as his bloodshot eyes blinked in the early dawn.

And she was instantly sorry for her thoughtless order. He didn't sleep on normal nights, or days. Most nights he clawed at things that weren't there, and called for men who'd died months before- like Sidney had in the summer. He'd scream into the night, yelling at the darkness that cackled around him. By morning his stitches had usually burst open from heavy breathing, and frantic thrashing, and blood trickled down the sweat between his pectorals. She couldn't believe she'd actually told him to get some rest. How dare she ask him to sleep though this? To sleep through a terrorizing event when he would be confined to his cot, physically paralyzed, yet mentally experiencing the same trauma as the marines in the hills. How dare she ask him to sleep though a repeat of an event that left him the only man alive at the aidstation?

She gave him a sympathetic smile, and snatched a syringe of morphine. She dropped to her knees in the sand, and he gave the syrette a wary glance.  
"How does a nice, long, nap sound?"  
Ryland grinned in understanding, and rolled up a leg of his boondockers to reveal his thigh.  
She laughed, as she massaged a small area of his leg, readying it for the injection. She raised an eyebrow, and he nodded, signaling he was ready. Tallulah uncapped the needle with her teeth, spitting the cover into the sand. In a swift motion, she stuck the needle deep into his thigh, and although he winced at first, within seconds his body visibly relaxed as the sedative took hold. Tallulah tossed the needle into a trashcan carved out of a rather large shoot of bamboo. She gave him a pat on the shoulder, as his eyes flickered open and closed, battling the drug that now coursed through his system.  
The tattered mosquito net flew back, and Tallulah glanced up to see Hisako standing in the doorway, urgency bending her usually stationary features.

"Come, there is much to do."

x.x.x.x

"No, no no." Tallulah begged, her head swinging side to side in a helpless motion. "Please don't tell me that."  
Hisako eyes demanded understanding. "You are talented at it Tallulah." She informed her reluctant friend. "All your assessments were accurate."  
Tallulah's fingers fought with the sides of her skirts that the breeze attempted to whisk up. "I can't do this."  
Hisako placed a hand on her shoulder. "But you can do this Tallulah, and you do it very well."

As Tallulah stared down at the shifting sands, Hisako stared straight out to the Solace.  
"That's the standard- can they make it to the boat? I don't want to treat anyone here. We haven't the supplies or the space. There's going to be a chain of boats running from the beach to the Solace, and if they can't stand the boat ride, then, that's it. They stay here, and they'll be buried on the hillside." Tallulah gnawed on her already chapped lips, pulling away the flaking flesh with her teeth. Hisako was going to turn this beach into a morgue.  
She pointed to the aid station, "This is the triage point."  
Tallulah scoffed at the idea that this gossamer malaria net served as the pearly gate towards salvation.  
But Hisako's next phrase didn't entice a laugh, but a startled cry.

"And you will be in charge."  
"But-"  
"Do you understand Corporal?" Hisako asked, having no time for negotiation.  
Tallulah nodded, and watched, as Hisako pulled out a handful of pens in assorted colors so vibrant, it seemed from the other pocket she would produce a coloring book. But Tallulah wasn't going to be coloring between outlines and guidelines; she'd be slashing uncertain and sloppy futures onto men's foreheads. Hisako held out the stack of pens, and gestured towards them.

"Choose your weapon."

x.x.x.x

Tallulah dropped to the sand, her hands shaking slightly as she touched the tip of her felt pen to a man's sweaty forehead. The drops of sweat that poured over his brow threatened to wipe away any ink markings she could possibly make. On the outside, there nothing appeared grievously wrong with him, he had some superficial cuts and scrapes, and a nasty gash running down his forearm.

But that wasn't what would kill him. It was the paleness in his cheeks, his racing pulse, and his demand for water which signaled his fate-hypovolemia. His heart was slowly going into cardiac arrest. His kidneys were failing to produce rennin. His lungs were tiring, slowly filling with their own fluid.  
Simply put, he was bleeding on the inside. His heart was stopping.  
He needed oxygen.  
He needed a transfusion.  
He needed surgery.  
And Tallulah could only give him morphine.  
She was not a solution, merely a pacifier.

"Are you gonna get me to the hospital or what?"  
It was the first time he'd spoken to her, and the first time Tallulah had glanced at the composition of his face, instead of the sweat and blood running down it.  
He had dark eyes that sat deep in his face, and had his pupils not been dilated, they might have appeared beady. His firm jaw was clamped around a cigarette that still smoldered in the corner of his mouth. His pale fingers drummed against the side of his leg.  
She couldn't see the name screened across his chest, it had been burnt off leaving only black scraps of fabric where his name should have been.  
And she didn't know army insignia very well, so she addressed him as she addressed half the men she treated. "Private-"

"It's sergeant!" He barked, annoyance causing a slight flush to enter his white cheeks.  
Tallulah's eyebrows furrowed, and she capped her pen, unsure of what to say.  
Thankfully, a voice rose behind her.  
"We're going to keep you on the beach for a little while, Sargeant."  
Tallulah twisted around to see Hisako approaching them, a shining scalpel clasped between her fingers.  
The sergeant glared up at Tallulah. "What the hell is she doing here?"  
Tallulah blinked and stared down at him, as Hisako also bent down into the sand.  
"What do you mean? She's the charge nurse."

There was something black in his eyes, far more festering and angry than any of Ryland's infected wounds. "She's a Nip."  
Tallulah felt a short pant escape her, "She's a nurse. She's a damn good nurse."  
His hands shook now, as if craving the chucky stock of some weapon between his fat thumbs. "Jap nurse. Don't let her touch me."  
Tallulah's mouth dropped open, and she felt her own eyes narrow in fury, as Hisako gave the man a kind smile, before leaning into Tallulah's ear.

"I'm going to make an incision and relieve the pressure- which will buy him enough time to get to the boat. We've had too many dying from this. And it's a simple fix."  
"He called you-"  
Hisako's hand curled around Tallulah's skinny wrist, and the unsheathed blade of the scalpel sat far to close to Tallulah's fingers. "I don't care what he called me. You shouldn't care what he called me."  
"But I-"

Tallulah felt the razor's edge barely grazing the wrinkly skin of her knuckle, as Hisako spun away, facing the patient.  
She picked up the syrette of morphine that Tallulah had placed in the sand. "Sir, this will help the pain-"  
His chest heaved with fear and exertion as if she were some crazed beast.  
"Don't fucking touch me, you yellow-"  
Hisako calmly touched the needle to the man's thigh, "This will only-"

"I said don't fucking touch me!" The sergeant screamed, and with a clenched fist swung as hard as he could. He succeeded in delivering a sickening blow to Hisako's delicate brow, and she toppled facedown into the sand.  
It took everything for Tallulah not to seize the scalpel and murder him.  
It took everything for Tallulah not to jab the needle straight into his eye.  
But the punch had taken everything out of the sergeant.  
He was quaking, his body racking with uncontrollable shakes, that sent blood spurting from his open mouth.

"Aren't you going to help me?" He stammered, his eyes holding a wary disbelief as his chest began to heave again, his collapsing lungs attempting to gain oxygen.  
Tallulah glanced over at her unconscious friend, as she watched more blood burst from between the Sergeant's lips.  
"I can't help you. She can."  
His arms flailed about wildly, as his chest stopped moving, collapsing in on itself. In desperation, the sergeant reached for her, his fat hand attempting to weasel its way into hers. With cruel fingers she pried his hands away, glaring at him as she absolved herself of his contact.

"Don't fucking touch me." She rasped in angry reiteration. She saw the shadow of the chaplin behind her, stretching long and dark in the hot rays of the afternoon sun. Tallulah stood to leave, but stooped to hoist Hisako's limp body into her tired arms.  
She glared at the man, who gasped for air like a fish out of water. "Don't waste your time Father," Tallulah advised, wiping a few dark strands of Hisako's hair away to reveal a massive contusion.

"That one's going straight to hell."  
x.x.x.x


	33. All This Life Part II

**Ahh, I cannot believe it's been so long since i've updated. really, I am so sorry guys. I hope after about what, three months, ya'll can forgive me and keep reading! Thanks to all my regulars, your comments really do support and inspire me to keep writing! I could not to this without ya'll. Anyways, HUGE events in this chapter, so hopefully ya'll enjoy! **  
**Hope everyone is having a wonderful spring!  
-EllieMayy  
**

Tallulah stared down at the stretch of prong wire, unimpressed.  
_This_ was the line?  
The world continued past the barbed wire barrier.  
It didn't stop. It didn't turn red. It didn't end.  
The land looked exactly the same on north side as it did the south.

And this divisor was somehow worth all this bloodshed? The advancement of this intangible parallel a few feet north or south was somehow worth all this life? She glanced down at the strips of skin, skewered by the barbs, and the green leaves spotted with droplets of red rain, and still it made no sense to her. This one piece of wire, this one rusty fence was supposed to contain her, to bar her from the injured only yards away. This fence was no different that any other, that divided pasture from field in Mobile. She'd hopped those fences numerous times, for far less important reasons. She could no longer hear the bugs buzzing in the thick bushes, or the jungle birds cawing from the canopy, all she could her was her CO's orders and Etienne's warnings to never cross the line. But the moan that rose from the mud and the shriek that bounded through the bamboo, bouncing off bark silenced the whisper of her commander and Etienne.

"It's just a stupid line." She muttered, stepping over the barbed wire.  
She was almost surprised that no one stopped her, surprised that no one yanked her back as she straddled the partition. She stood for a moment, a leg on each side of the line, one foot on American ground, and one on Japanese territory. And she did not feel divided. One half of her body did not ache. One side of her conscious did not worry. Unlike she had expected, there no whizzing bullets, no screaming mortars to protect the line. It was as if the defense had been left to the jungle plants alone, and the few soldiers laying strewn across contested ground. There were two Japanese men face down in the dirt, telltale punctures on their backs shown that they had been stabbed to death, from behind. But they hadn't gone down to the simple flanking maneuver of the two Americans. Two fractured grenade cartridges rested in the nearby soil, the obvious cause of the butchered bodies of two marines, torn chests heaving like fish out of water.

She bent down next to them, and placed a hand on each soldiers arm, and cast a quick smile in each direction. She could hear footfalls in the forest, feet padding against the thick layer of wet leaves that covered the ground. She had no idea who it was, or who it was going to be. She had no idea if she would see an American, or if the barrel of a Japanese pistol would be her last memory. But as she stared down into the hopeful faces of the stuggling marines, she realized, that she no longer cared. She was giving them hope instead of morphine. She was giving them a fighting chance, instead of a chance to die in comfort. And she knew she would keep going. She knew she would not leave the line until she was called back to duty on the Solace. She knew that it was worth every risk, and she knew this would not be her last time crossing that stupid fence.  
She gave them another reassuring glance, before speaking.

"My name is Tallulah." She told them, rummaging through her pack to start a plasma transfusion. "And you are going to be fine."

x.x.x.x

"I hear that we've got them Japs Cornered down in Death valley." The voice sprang out of the darkness, eager to escape the dirt parameters of the foxhole.  
Sidney could tell by the hopeful tone that is was a new recruit and that Pelelieu was his first battle.  
"Well where the fuck did you hear that?" This voice charged out of the darkness, angry in an attempt to seem powerful, as if the sound of the soldier's own vocal chords comforted him.  
Sid rolled his eyes, he was probably scared shitless too.  
"I just heard it around. Rumor. Scuttlebutt."  
"Well, it's just fucking wrong."

There was a silence, and Sidney stared out at the night air which was showered with sparks, the fallout from combative fireworks that only produced one color-orange.  
"Well, we all turn into ashes or rot one day, so what the hell does it matter?" This voice could have been the blackness itself speaking, the way the words curled and twisted, slithering through the hot air.  
But it wasn't.  
It was Snafu.

He sat reclined against his backpack, cigarette in one hand, his collection of Jap teeth in the other. He'd toss them ever so often, as if they were dice, made of enamel rather than plastic or ivory. It wasn't a display of probabilities, but power. These were his teeth to cast. He was the one who had crept around in the dusk, scavenging like a vulture, brandishing his bayonet like a surgeon. Sidney couldn't see his full moon eyes, but he imagined they were as wide as ever, unblinkingly daring the blackness to come closer.

He sucked on the cigarette for a moment, as if he could inhale the words. "I ain't got a clue where the Japs are, or what the hell they're doing, or if we're beating them, or if they're kicking our asses. But I tell you what-"  
There was a long pause as he tapped the cigarette, dumping a few ashes onto the ground. Yet everyone waited patiently for him to finish.  
"We're easier targets with you dumb fucks yelling, than if ya'll just shut up and went to sleep."

A few chuckles arose, a comforting, communal sound that served to lighten that atmosphere that was thicker with fear that it was with smoke.  
Sid hovered close to his mortar, a hand protectively placed on the body of the small shell as if it were his child.  
He was grateful it was night. Daytime on Pelelieu was hotter than hell, because there was no longer any shade. They had killed the shade when they burned the forests. The trees had been reduced to mere skeletons, their branches brittle, dry bones. This was no green inferno like Guadalcanal- this was a fucking desert. The breeze was hot, like the charred air it attempted to stir. But instead of carrying any cool wind, it only carried the whispers of other recruits.

"Heard about her yet?"  
Sid scoffed, pretty soon the recruits would be breaking out their flashlights in an attempt to crowd around one Esquire magazine. He pushed his helmet down past his eyes, ready to sleep.  
But the whispers in the wind continued to reach his ears, and it became apparent they were not discussing some model.  
"You mean the nurse? I heard she's gone Asiatic."  
"They said she just stormed off the beach. Said she just left the triage. She's been running up at the line all day. Crossing it too. Those boys up there, they're calling her an angel."  
Sid's eyes widened, and he felt his hand reach for the rock in his pocket. Whoever it was, it wasn't Tallulah. She worked on the Solace, not the beach.  
"She must be something else. They say one of these days she's gonna get shot to pieces the way she runs around."  
"Ain't it a shame? Cause she's real pretty too. But she don't look like an angel."  
One of the men chuckled, "I heard she was a hell-raising redhead."

Instantly, Sid shot up from the foxhole. His legs pushing him upright, and making him stand tall in the laughing darkness that spewed bullets like spit.  
"Where the hell is he going?" Mused one soldier, as Sid clamored out of the hole, and set off in a dead run, charging away from the encampment of marines.  
"He'll get himself killed."  
"Someone stop him."  
"He'll draw out their fire!"  
Snafu raised a single finger, and the motion carried enough unnerving authority to silence all the voices rising from the surrounding trenches.  
"Let him go."  
A young recruit jumped up, pistol cocked and ready. "Deserter!" He yelled. "Why should we let him go?"

And as swiftly as the current, as silently as the night, Snafu unsheathed his dagger, and pressed the blade to the man's throat. Snafu could feel the man's pulse racing, and the trembling of the muscles in his neck. An inch of soft, unshaven shin was all that needed to be severed to silence the recruit. "We all turn to ash or rot someday. What does it matter, if it's then or now?"  
"It matters!' Yelped the marine,  
"Nah, it really don't. But it's your pick anyways." Snafu traced the blade along the edge of the man's jugular, feeling the rushing of the marine's cowardly blood. His words were not just part of the darkness, but black on their own.

"So, which will it be when I'm all done? Ashes, or rot?"

x.x.x.x

Sid fell over rocks, tripped over bricks, stumbled over stumps, and staggered over sticks. His hands had been skinned by the course sand, and his dungarees ripped by protruding remnants of splintered trees. The light from incoming explosions was hot, and the air was heavy, and it all mixed into a sea of static, that threatened upsurge at any time. Sid felt as if he were swimming instead of running, arms and legs churning though the humidity. He felt as if he were drowning into the one ongoing blackness that was the combination of sea and sky.

But he kept running.  
He ran past companies shooting off mortars  
He flew past soldiers firing their rifles.  
He raced past marines pulling pins out of their grenades.  
He sped past piles of rubble, stones and planks where recruits cowered; hoping these fragments of a once whole structure would somehow protect them now, shattered and broken.

So much gravel flew through the air that it reminded him of hailstorm; he could hear the pinging of the rocks striking his helmet. He could also hear the sick sizzling of flamethrowers igniting, unleashing a formulated, chemical hellfire into the night air. He continued charging across barren ground that should have remained no man's land. He couldn't imagine why this desolate island was of such importance, why it was worth all his life. He dodged the corpses that lay strewn across the gritty sand, but he kept his gaze on the Solace, which was eerily white in the face of the black waves. Shrapnel, rock, and dirt fell from the sky like rain. It was raining hell. And Sid continued to run.  
His lung burned, his chest heaved, his legs ached, his torso felt as if someone was cutting through it with a dull knife, his boots had come off long ago.

But he didn't stop.  
And he didn't stop when he heard the order for him to stop running.  
The sergeant's call was barely audible above the shrieking shells, but Sid knew he had been ordered to stop, ordered to slow his pace, ordered to drop his weapon, ordered to put his hands where the officer could see them.  
He kept on anyways.  
He'd never run this hard in combat. He'd never run so much in his life. He'd never run this fast for his life.  
But he wasn't running for his life- he was running for Tallulah's. He was running to get her off the beach. He was running to get her back on the boat where she was supposed to be. In fact, he was running to tell her to get the hell out of the pacific, like he should have told her in the first place.  
But his run had turned more into a jog, and when he glanced over his shoulder, he could see a group of men running after him.  
He was on the beach now, he could feel softer sand slipping between his toes.

"Tallulah!" He yelled, pausing to take frantic glances around at the white uniforms that glowed in the light of the explosions. "Tallulah!"  
It was when he finally stopped, that he was encircled, approached by a variety of officers, pistols pointed.  
"On the ground!" Yelled a sergeant, "On the ground son! Drop you weapon! Hands behind your back!"  
More women in white began to amass around the scene, and Sid scanned for one with flame colored curls peeking out from under her nurses cap.  
"I said on the ground!" Growled another officer, as Sid felt a hands push him down to the sand. He felt the cold metal around his wrists, and heard the click of click of handcuffs.  
He felt the sand scraping his check, and he could feel his heart beating against the beach, pounding like the surf.

And then all he could feel was his eyelids closing, eyelashes locking to skin.

x.x.x.x

"It's getting late. You should head up to the galley for some dinner."

Tallulah's fingers never stopped dancing over the glass viles that lined the metal cabinet in the storage room, but she did cast a glance over her sunburned shoulder. Hisako stood in the doorway, a stack of paperwork in her hands an a quiet smile on her lips. A gesture Tallulah didn't return as she scribbled the number of morphine dosages left in the cabinet, which was far too low.  
"Not hungry." Tallulah told her, eyes flickering to Hisako's bandaged forehead. Her contusion from the incident on the beach hadn't yet vanished into her skin, the dark bruse was unmistakable against her porcelain skin, which some bastards were able to describe as 'yellow.'

Tallulah understood everything now. The crypic little messages Hisako had been trying to send her, the comments that seemed mystical now made perfect sense, the anger that had seemed unjustifiable now seemed perfectly reasonable. Hisako, the company commander, worked during the day behind closed doors, hiding her dark hair and dark eyes behind stacks and stacks of charts and files and paperwork. At night she worked in the O.R- men under amnesia could never tell that she as Asian. But she still hid behind her surgical mask, protecting the patients from her offensive face. She'd saved countless lives, and the Navy had rewarded her with distinguished awards, but there was never acknowledgment, recognition, never gratitude from the soldiers she had saved. Because they did not know she existed. She was invisible; she was the true angel of the Solace, Floating unseen among the halls, operating rooms, and bedsides.  
Hisako walked with ghosts, because she'd rather not walk perceived as a demon.

"It's never been that bad before." Hisako noted, touching a hand to her beaten face. "I've never been struck before."  
Tallulah's fist shook, and she quickly set down the glass syringes she held, for fear she would crack them.  
"I could have killed him. He had no right-"  
"He's dead, Tallulah. Let him be."  
"But you're here, and your face is a bloody mess, and it's his doing." Tallulah's scrawled so hard on her paper, that the sheet tore. "I'm going to report him." She noted, watching the ink bleed through the white parchment. "I'm going to talk to his Lieutenant, and have him demoted."  
Hisako shook her head, and took a seat on the metal table in the middle of the room. "No you won't. Don't do that to his family."  
"He's a racist bastard, Hisako. He broke army law striking you. He's an assailant."

"He was scared and he was dying."  
"He was a coward."  
"His children don't have to know that."  
Tallulah pushed a cluster of papers away, she hoisted herself up onto the table, and took a seat beside Hisako.  
"I'm so damn tired of lying." Tallulah sighed, a hand pushing back frizzy curls. "I'm so tired of it."  
"His family deserves the dishonesty."  
"Do you deserve those bruises?"  
Dark eyes flashed upwards, but for the first time, they did not harden. For the first time all Tallulah could see in Hisako's black gaze was tiredness. The supreme tiredness of someone who had not slept in three years. Someone who had been awake since 1941. Someone who simply wanted some peace. Someone who did not want to fight anymore, for any reason, whatsoever.

So Tallulah just took her hand and squeezed it, and the debate abated.  
"I want the explosions to stop." Hiskao noted. "I want to hear something other than thudding."  
"I want to eat something that doesn't taste like saltwater." Tallulah quipped.  
"I want to wear something other than this cotton sack!" Hiskao proclaimed, her voice rising.  
"I want to sunbathe again."  
"I want to go out on the town."  
Tallulah couldn't stifle a scoff.  
"There is no town."

Hisako shook her head, a smile tugging at the edges of her lips. "I don't care. I want to go out anyways."  
"I want to go out to dinner!"  
"I want to see a play!"  
"I want to drive one of those landing vehicles. Just for the hell of it."  
"I want to sleep with an American. Just for the hell of it."  
instantaneous giggles bubbled from their mouths, and bounced of the sterile, solemn walls of the exam room, as each girl braced herself against the pleasurable thoughts of making love.

Hisako raised a finger, although her shoulders still slumped with riotous laughter. "In fact, I want to do it just like you and Sidney!" She wriggled around on the table, and the clanging and creaking it made only emphasized her point.  
More laughed ensued, and the feeling of their chests heaving with happy exertion instead of exhaustion was addictive. Far more so than any painkiller Tallulah had just counted for inventory. The sound of cheerful shrieks was beautiful, and neither wanted to stop laughing, for fear the sound would vanish into the somber passageways of the ship and never return.  
"I slept with an American." Tallulah snickered, stating the obvious. "Thanks to you."  
Hiskao grinned, but her next musing was one that didn't mesh with the easy laughter the girls had enjoyed.  
"I just want to sleep. I want to go to sleep and to never wake up. I would like very much to be unconscious. I would like not to have to see the loss of all this life."

And gone was the elusive laughter, scampering away into the dark holds of the ship.  
"I'm ready for them to find him." Hisako continued, her hands clasped together. anymore." Tallulah couldn't imagine her everyday worry for Sidney's safety turning into an annual state of mind. "I'm ready for them to find a body. I'm so tired of waiting. I've been engaged to a ghost for the last three years." Her voice faltered, and she stared down at her bare fingers, unmarked by any sign of a ring.  
"I told myself that I took it off for the Navy. That I wasn't wearing it because nurse weren't allowed to be engaged, or be married." She glanced up at Tallulah, dark eyes tearful. "I'm starting to think I don't wear it because I don't love him anymore."  
Tallulah's hands gripped at the base of her skirt, tugging it as if to enlarge it. There were awkward words ahead, that didn't belong in the conversation, but needed to be said anyways.

"I'm pregnant."

It was if Tallulah had set a bomb off in the room, her words detonating, killing any sort of joviality and leaving only silence in its shockwaves.  
Hisako's eyes widened, her eyelashes stretching up to touch the base of her browbone. "You're pregnant?"  
Tallulah nodded. "Believe me, I've hunted for every excuse possibly. I've tried to tell myself that the rice is bad, or that I'm not getting enough sleep. But the rice has been bad for weeks, and I haven't bled in over two months."  
Hisako features softened, and her forehead furrowed, wrinkles of contemplation appearing on the usually taut skin.  
"I should have expected this. I let the two of you get married."  
Tallulah clutched her friend's hand, eager to express gratitude. "And it was the most wonderful thing anyone has ever done for me." She lowered her gaze to the table, somewhat ashamed. "And I won't let this dishonor the unit. I know you run one of the most respectful nurse outfits in the Pacific." Tallulah glanced down to her stomach, as if somehow it would have swelled in the last few moments. "So I will find a way to leave. I will get myself transferred. I won't-"

It was Hisako's turn to grab her friend's hand, but it was the harsh gaze in her dark eyes that truly attracted Tallulah's attention.  
"You really think I care more about the integrity of this unit than I do about you?"  
"Well-"  
"Well I don't. I told you, half of my girls are married. The other half is engaged. The old Lieutenant, my chief nurse, and my roommate- she was already a mother." She squeezed tallulah's hand. "I care more about you and this baby than I do about whatever the navy defines as integrity. I've got strippers out there working the beach, giving out morphine and prayers." She snorted. "Integrity has nothing to do with doing your duty."  
Tallulah couldn't help but give her a small smile. "I would do anything for you and this unit."  
"And I would do the same for you." Hiskao interjected, pressing a sealed folder into Tallulah's hands.  
"So that's why I'm doing this."

Confused, Tallulah tore though the seal on the paper, and her eyes widened when she saw what the folder contained.  
"He's been arrested for 'trying to desert.'" Hisako stated, her voice calm and steady. "They're holding him in the brig and he's awaiting a court martial."  
Tallulah shook her head, her eyes not believing what she saw on the paper.  
Hisako continued. "Someone has already tended to his injuries. But, I'm sure no one down there knows that. You certainly have plenty to talk about. This is pass enough to get you down there. No one should ask any questions." Hisako glanced at the clock on the wall, whose hands revealed a late hour. "So go on. Go to him."  
Tallulah could say nothing as she hopped off the table, sending a platter of once sterile surgical instruments into the floor.  
She threw her arms around Hisako, who urged her on.

Chart clutched to her chest, Tallulah burst from the room, and started down the hallway. She blew past the priests, holding a communal mass in the holding area for the wounded. She flew past the last of the daytime nurses lingering outside of their cramped quarters, coffees in hand. She sped down tiny passageways, and bounded down sets of stairs.  
Her lungs began to ache, but she kept running deep into the bowels of the boat. Sidney was in the brig, and nothing would keep her from him.

x.x.x.x

She could hear the click of her shoes on the concrete of the brig. The space sounded surprisingly open, even though it was divided into small rows of cells. She glanced around, eyes darting from cell to cell, from dark corner to darker corner.  
She didn't see any guards, although she had imaged there would be some sort of security down here. Water dripped from the ceiling, landing with a plop, and pooled into large puddles on the concrete floor. The lighting was dim, and she had to squint to sufficiently see the rest of the hold. Pieces of large machinery cast creeping shadows across the barley illuminated walls. Apparently there were never enough prisoners in the brig of a hospital ship to stop it from serving as a printing room too.

She was afraid to speak, afraid of how loud her whisper would sound as it bounced from wall to wall, echoing through the dank, dark spaces. She could feel the boat tossing and pitching and rolling, much like her stomach most mornings. The sea was gnawing at the hull of the Solace, ravenous for something else to devour. There hadn't been enough hulls, desks, and masts consumed today to fill the voracious appetite to the dark water.

"Sidney!" She called, her voice louder than the slap of the waves against the creaking hill. "Sidney!"  
Then, through the stifled, stale air, came a voice she hadn't heard in weeks.  
"Tallulah?" Her name was spoken in the softest sweetness and in that ashen tone that she'd fallen in love with. She wanted him to say it again and again. She wanted to hear her name fly from between his lips like smoke from a cigarette. And she did.  
"Tallulah?"

She whirled around, eyes scanning the dimness for his figure. When she spotted him, standing in his cell at the far end of the room, she ran once more, splashing though the puddles from leaks above. She threw herself against the cell, wanting to feel the embrace of his warm arms, but feeling the barring rejection of the cold metal bars. She threw herself against the cell, as if her ribcage could somehow break iron.

"Sidney!" It was a gasp, a gasp as desperate as one for air or mercy. It was a plea, a cry to hold her, to come to her, to fill the empty space in her small bed. It was an admission of every emotion she felt for him, and of every night she had lain awake, praying that he would see another sunrise. It was a chant, urging him on, until his wrists slid against the sharp edges of the rusty slats, and their fingers intertwined.

"Tallulah. You're safe." He breathed, squeezing her fingers together, as he looked her up and down, searching for any signs that she had been at the front.  
She exhaled, a long deep breath, and her shoulders sagged.  
"You're safe. I heard you left the line, and went running like mad."  
His gaze darkened. "I heard you left the beach. I heard you went to the line." He glanced up at her, his finger stroking hers. "I heard you were an angel."  
The dim light, which came only from a swinging bulb in the center of the room, and the moonlight that was channeled in through portholes, cast long shadows across his face, and made him look far older than eighteen.  
She shook her head, flinging sweat soaked curls from side to side. "I ain't no angel Sidney. But I ain't an undertaker either."  
His grip tightened around her fingers, which she believed to be dislocated. "You could have been killed."  
"But I wasn't."

It was his turn to sigh, and blow out a deep breath. He smiled at her, and the curve of his lips and eyes showed gratitude and relief. "I heard some recruits talking, about a nurse who'd left her post and gone to the line. I didn't think too much about it, until I heard them talk about your hair." He strained against the slats and reached out to grab a fistful of her flaming curls, still damn with perspiration from her run. He lifted the hair to his nose and inhaled. She smelled like flowers and laughter, like sun and soil, like raindrops and seawater.  
She was heaven-sent.

"And then I knew it was you. But really, I knew before. I knew when they said that they'd see an angel that it was you. And I knew I had to go get you. I had to take you back to the beach. I had to find you."  
She shook her head, amazed by his reactions. "So you just started running?"  
He grinned. "That's why I'm here. They thought I was deserting."  
Tallulah gripped his wrists, as she attempted to force an unpleasant mental image out of her mind. "You could have been shot for that. You'll have a trial to explain all this- but whose going to believe…" Her voice trailed off, becoming one with the stale air. She hunted for a loving admonishment, a reluctant praise, but found her words were crude and simple. "You done fucked up now."  
Sid raised his eyebrows in an attempt to lighten the suppressive mood of the brig, and the situation. "Oh, no babe. We did that two months ago." She glanced up from staring at the patterns in the concrete, and her eyes met his, and dared him to be serious.

"You're gonna be a daddy Sidney."

His eyes shot open, his mouth dropped, and he staggered backwards, holding onto the cell bars for support.  
He glanced her up and down, searching for some external sign with an air of disbelief. The news had rendered him incapable of looking at her face, and he gaped down at her stomach. He felt like a shell had exploded somewhere near by. All sound drained away, all speech dissipated, all movement was uncoordinated, and his vision was blurry. He stood there, like a man in shellshock, waiting for world to resume.  
And when he finally found that he had the power to control his own lips once more, and the ability to force words between them, all he could do was question.  
"You're pregnant?"  
The answer came in a small puff of breath that left Tallulah seeming void of all other oxygen.  
"Yes."

His shaking hands slipped through the bars, and touched her stomach. The skin was soft and somewhat swollen. But the bulge was hard and definite. He felt the skin, where, only centimeters below his fingertips, his child was growing. His one moment of release would chain them together forever, through a creation more beautiful than his woodworkings or her portraits, and more lasting than their ivory rings. He gave a sad smile, unable to feel totally joyous. War had befouled this perfect moment, a moment he had dreamed about. War had reduced everyone's mind to a scale of worrying, where happiness only constituted having small degree of anxiety. And instead of celebrating the formation of this life, all Sidney could do was worry about preserving it.

He could see piles of corpses, grown men all pilled atop one another, awaiting burial. And he could see the w body of one babe, blackened by gunpowder, awaiting the same process. He gripped her stomach tighter, his head shaking as much as his trembling hands. Something so innocent had no place being birthed into a piece of this hell. The birth blood had no business mixing with the blood of murder destruction.  
Creative fluid had no business mixing with the liquids of annihilation.  
And the child would need a home. A sold place. A steady foundation.  
It needed firm ground beneath its feet, not the decks of a sinkable ship. It needed hills, not waves.  
It needed nourishing soil, not this wrathful water that continued to slam the Solace.

Tallulah eyed her husband nervously, and hoped her gaze would prompt words. He hadn't spoken in such a long time.  
He finally tore his eyes away from her stomach, which encased the most precious thing he had ever known.  
"You have to go home." He whispered, and although his tone was soft, the order was not. It was nothing short of a command.  
She nodded, and traced her fingernails up and down the tanned skin of his forearms, dancing over the bruises and contusions he had received from his most recent fight.  
"I will. I just have to wait until I start to show. Then the Navy will kick me out." She attempted to smile, but it felt unnatural on her lips, it strained the muscles that Sidney's jokes used to exercise so well. "And it shouldn't be long now."  
Sid stared at his wife, noting the dark circles under her eyes, the sunburn in her cheeks, the worry lines etched into her forehead. And she had never looked more beautiful.  
His hands finally left her stomach, and their fingers met once more, and she found herself sighing at his slightest touch.  
"I love you more now that I ever have Tallulah. This…" He balked for a moment as his voice cracked. "This is the most wonderful thing that has ever happened to me. This will be the most wonderful thing that has ever happened to us. I promise you."

Hands joined, they both stared down once more at her stomach, which enclosed something as terrifying as a ticking bomb, something more beautiful than the swelling sea, something miraculous, something incredible, something that illustrated the impossible.

Something which showed that in the midst of all this death- somehow there was life, and therefore, hope.


	34. A note from Ellie!

Is anyone out there? Out there? Out there?  
haha, hey, ya'll it's ellie! I cannot believe it's been so freaking long since I updated this story- over a year now. Obviously, I've had some stuff come up, like going to college and transferring to another college, and all that jazz, but I've finally had the time to start writing again, and finally figured out how I want this story to end. That being said, I hope to have this story updated this weekend, and hope that ya'll like it! It's been quite a while since I've written, so I hope ya'll can bear with me! Also, how much FF has changed since I last logged on is incredible, haha I've got to get used to all the new stuff on the site. Anyways, as always, thanks for all the support, reviews, story alerts, favorites, whatever. But most of all thanks for reading! Hope ya'll will stick with it  
Much love,  
EllieMayy


	35. Honor

**Hey ya'll! **  
**So sorry for the delay. You can blame me, but I'm also holding game of thones accountable haha. Finally getting a chance to watch those. **  
**Anyways, this chapter is on the short side, but I think it packs a punch. I hope ya'll like it! I'm nervous since I haven't written in a while, but please, tell me what you think. To everyone who's been sticking this one out with me- much love! Ya'll are the best!  
-EllieMayy**

Tallulah gnawed on the cap of her pen as she watched Hisako sign off on discharge papers. The head nurse gave a sigh as she slashed her name across file after file. Finally, she glanced up and raised one dark eyebrow at Tallulah.

"Has it ever occurred to you to bring these to me on time?" Tallulah laughed. "But where's the fun in that?"

Hisako shook her head, as she continued scribbling her signature.

Tallulah read though the names of the men as Hisako stuffed each one in a folder and stamped it. She'd see half of these men again back here in the hospital, if not bleeding out on the beach.

Hisako paused on one paper, "Hmm, a discharge for Sidney Phillips? It seemsheat stroke got the best of him the other day."

"A diagnosis you agree with, nurse?" Tallulah stifled a giggle, "Considering you provided it?"

Hisako snorted, and stamped the paper. "Apparently, thoughts of his wife drive him madder than the heat"

Tallulah sighed, and gathered up the folders. "You do us too many favors."

"No such thing for a friend."

"A friend would find a way to repay you."

"You already have. In your service."

"Which will end sooner than I would like." Tallulah grew quiet, as thoughts of her wedding night flooded her mind. The salt, the sea, the sweat, the sand, his seed- the product of that perfect moment now grew within her. "I never meant to dishonor the core."

She watched as Hisako's furious scrawling on the charts slowed, and finally stopped. The pen dropped from between her fingers, her back straightened, and she stared directly into the wall ahead.

"I am tired of honor."

Tallulah tired to look at her, but her dark eyes would not lift.

"Honor- is why these beaches are littered with dead men. Honor is why my countrymen commit suicide in the hills, rather than accept surrender." Honor is why I became a nurse, to lift shame from my family.

She was crumpled over her papers again, this time, exhausted from emotion and not work. Teardrops began to soak the charts, and in a swift motion, she flung them off the table, undoing days of organization. "Honor is why I lay awake at night, wondering if I have yet been made a widow."

She turned slowly to face Tallulah, her small body racking with sobs so intense, they seems more like convulsions.

"Honor, is why my husband left me."

She exploded into tears, and Tallulah lowered her to the floor. They both sat, and Tallulah gathered up Hisako's almost lifeless limbs and pulled her close. Within seconds, Tallulah's blouse was wet with her friend's tears and snot. The extremity to which the sadness contorted hisako's usually stoic face, rendered her almost unrecognizable. It was as if someone had taken a knife and cut slits into her eyes, and sliced her mouth into a downward gash. She shook as if she were seizing, and gasped for breath as if she were drowning, desperate for air. Tallulah had never seen someone cry like this. Except herself. When Eugene had chosen to go to war. When Eugene had chosen to leave her. When Eugene had chosen honor.

Tallulah rocked back and forth, whispering hushing nothings to her friend, much like she would soon do for her new child.

But these tears were different. This was not the fussing of a newborn, which could be easily assuaged by warm milk, cooing, or rocking. These were the weeping of a grown woman, denied the sustenance she needed for survival. Tallulah ran her finger's though Hisako's dark, straight hair. She was unsure of what she could say or do. She wondered what would do her friend more good? Her presence? Or a dosage of valium?

And although the needs were different between her future babe, and her full grown friend- the comfort provided by being drawn close to a warm chest was not.

"Can I get you anything?" Tallulah asked, her fingers now tracing soothing circles into Hisako's taut back. "A coffee?" She gave a knowing glance, remembering the same kindness Hisako had shown to her in the form of chemical relaxation. "Some pills?"

Hisako shook her head, and rose from the floor. She wiped her eyes, straightened her skirt, and smoothed her air, as if brushing away the physical traces of her emotions.

"You can go home, Tallulah." Her dark eyes had hardened back to their steely resolve, and she spoke with such conviction, her glare almost glinted. "You can forget honor."

Tallulah began to protest, but held up a hand and continued.

"You have something more important than honor now. You have a duty. One entrusted to you by the power of creation itself."

Tallulah stared down at her stomach, wishing she could see the duty, the little being Hisako spoke so passionately about. Would it have her eyes? Or his? Would it have her lips? And his ears? Would it have a complete set of ten toes, and ten fingers? More importantly, Would it be safe? Would it be well?

"Forget about honor. Forget about nursing. Forget about this core. Forget me. Forget about staying out here in all this hell."

Hisako placed a shaking hand on Tallulah's belly. "Forget everything but what you carry inside you."

Tallulah grabbed her friend's hand. "I will never forget you. How could I possibly forget you?" Her head swung from side to side, sending her non regulation length curls flying. "You have done so much for me! Taking me in, showing me skills, giving me sleep when I needed it, accepting my marriage, accepting my pregnancy, sparing my husband from court-martial." The recollection of all the events forced her lips upward in smile. "You have been the kindest, most generous person I have ever met. And the only true friend I have ever had."

Hisako's hands reached for Tallulah's face, and she stood on the tip toes of her tiny feet, to plant a kiss into the redhead's cheek. "Then would you do me the honor, Emmaraudo, of getting on the next plane that heads stateside?"

Tallulah nodded, feeling tears of her begin forming in the corners of her eyes.

Hisako squeezed her hand, and then gathered her papers from the floor, stuffing them back into a folder. She drifted to the doorway, but paused under it, looking up from the armful of files she carried.

"And would you do me another honor?" Her voice held the usual sarcasm Tallulah had grown so fond of.

"Get all your other discharge papers to me on time?"

x.x.x.x

Sidney sat with his bare back up against the rough bark of a palm tree, his toes wriggling in the sand. Sweat dripped down his chest, and over his abdomen in a steady stream, and hours ago he'd given up trying to wipe the perspiration away. His brow furrowed in concentration at the piece of wood he held in his hand, and at the knife in the other. The same knife he had fashioned Tallulah's ring, he now used to carve toy blocks for his coming child.

With loving strokes, his knife cut through the smooth driftwood, and slowly, expertly crafted cubes began to form. The few that he'd been able to make already were piled by his side, awaiting sanding and painting. He smiled down at his sheets of sandpaper and jar of red paint. He'd traded his last few packs of cigarettes to a desperate smoker who had swiped some supplies from the ship's carpenter in exchange from some nicotine. Although he could think of nothing he wanted more than a a cold beer, a cigarette didn't sound bad either. But he'd half to quit soon anyways. He'd always heard that the smoke wasn't good for a baby.

And there was that word again. Baby.

Something he hadn't imagined having for quite a while.

Something he could have imagined having waiting for him at home.

But it was horrific to think that his child was in the midst of all this hell. It was horrific to think his Tallulah was in the midst of all this hell. He didn't know how long the war would last, but he would be damned before he saw her give birth on some cursed spit of sand in the middle of the pacific ocean.

He shook his head at the block he held in his hand, and tossed it a few feet away, frustration taking hold. He should have been building them a new house, their own house. He should have been constructing a crib, or a cradle. He should have been working overtime down at the docks, bringing home enough money to start paying for future expenses, like college.

And her.

She should have been relaxing in a rocking chair, cool drink in hand. She should have been knitting a blanket, or baby's clothes instead of stitching together wounds, and sewing up torn flesh. She should have been resting, her only worry whether to paint the baby's room pink or blue.

But there was a war. And she was here. And the child was here. And it never should have been.

Sid grabbed another block and chucked it down the beach. And all he had to offer was homemade toys. They were so vastly unprepared, and he wanted everything to be perfect, for the perfect little thing that awaited them, sleeping sweetly inside Tallulah's belly.

"Carving again?"

Sidney stiffened at the voice that was so similar to his own. It was deep, and slow and lingered over vowels. He looked up to see Eugene walking towards him. His dungarees were rolled into shorts, and his shirt was tattered from work, and stained from oil. He looked more like a real marine now than when he had first come, all dressed up in his uniform.

What him made him look even more like a true marine, like the other men around him, was that he was now a veteran. His eyes were scarred by the sights of battle. His ears were filled with the sounds of resounding screams. And his hands were stained by the lives he had taken with them. He knew better now, than he had before. He knew know what it was really like. He understood that every war movie, or every combat story they'd ever heard was nothing but a glorious lie. To take a man's life did not make you a man. To fire a rifle did not make you a soldier. To toss a grenade did not make you a patriot. There was nothing good, or right, or honorable about any of this.

Eugene ambled up to up to him, and ran a hand across his forehead. "Hotter than hell out here."

"We'll we're in it- so what do you expect?" Sid reached for his canteen and offered it to his childhood friend.

Eugene shook his head, and scuffed his foot in the sand.

"Look, Sid, I wanted to talk to you about the other week, when first assaulted this beach-"

Sid took a sip of the water himself, it was hot and salty.

"I don't wanna talk about that fight. I shouldn't have hit you."

"I don't wanna talk about that either. I wanted to tell you I wouldn't have made it off the beach without-"

Sid cut him off. "It wasn't nothing."

Eugene shrugged, "Captain says he wants to see you."

"About what?"

"Dunno."

Eugene turned to leave, but one misplaced step later, had him holding one foot and cursing. Eugene stared down at the sand, searching for the stupid shell so he could toss in away into the ocean.

"What the fuck is this?"

Sid looked up to find Eugene staring down at one of his blocks in the sand. He bent over, and picked up the piece of wood, engraved with a letter of the alphabet on each side. Eugene glanced up and his eyes widened when he saw the knife in Sid's hilt.

He held the block out at arm's length, as if it were a grenade, or some dangerous object, and he glared straight at Sidney.

"What the fuck is this Sidney Phillips?" He howled.

Sidney sighed, and swallowed back a massive amount of nervous spit that had pooled in his mouth. "Eugene."

"Oh, no. no. Absolutely not." Eugene stuttered backing away, his head shaking frantically in angry disbelief. "She's pregnant?"

"Eugene, I guess you should know-"

His face contorted, his eyes narrowed into slits, and his mouth fell wide open as if he had tasted something awful. His nostrils flared, and his hands curled into fists at his side.

"I thought you had honor."  
Sidney had thought the same thing once, but he shook his head. "Love is better."

Eugene's face was full of horror, "And to think I wanted to be just like you! I wanted to have the honor you did! I wanted to do my duty like you! I wanted to honor my country, and my family." His voice was high with hurt, and he hurled the block at Sid's face, barely missing. "I wanted to be with brother! I wanted to go to war with my brother!"

Sid stifled back a few hot tears he could feel welling in his eyes. Even if they fell it wouldn't really matter, it would appear just as sweat.  
"But don't you see Eugene?" He pleaded, his hands motioning to the beaches, the boats, and the barracks around them. " Don't you see it's nothing like we thought?"

Eugene was not backing away, but advancing on his friend, balled fists not yet raised. "I see that you are not the brother I thought you to be."  
"Nothing is like I thought it to be."  
Eugene's voice lowered, and he shook his head. "You didn't think did you Sidney? You didn't think at all! You didn't think about me when you decided to fall in love with her! And now that you're in love with her, you don't think about her!" His stare was wild with anger, and he moved closer. "Did you think what would happen if you die? If you die and you leave her not only a widow, but a mother to be?"  
"It's all I think about."  
"And what about her?" Eugene yelled, his eyes shining with angry concern. "What if she dies?"  
" I couldn't stop her from coming out here. "

Eugene's foot pounded the sand. "You couldn't stop yourself from finding her when you were in New York. You couldn't stop yourself from taking her home with you. You couldn't stop yourself from falling in love with her. You couldn't stop yourself from fucking her. with you." Eugene's paused for a moment, as if to revel in his glorious insults. "And when you did couldn't stop yourself from finishing inside her."

Today, Sid was the first to take to his fists. He delivered and upper cut punch that sent Eugene toppling into the sand. Eugene growled, and slowly got back to his feet, blood pouring from each nostril. He charged, and succeeded in administering a blow to the side of Sid's face, that left him spewing blood.  
They both staggered away from each other for a moment, wiping away the sweat and the blood.

Sid glared at his friend. "It was a surprise when I found her it new York. It was a surprise when she decided to come home with me. It was a surprise that I fell in love with her. Then I married her, yes, I planned that." He couldn't help but stop to admire his own set of insults. "And it was also a surprise when I made love to her, and she asked me to."

Eugene charged again, and Sid charged back, and both succeeded in knocking each other on their back in the sand.  
They lay there in the hot sand, staring up at the sun, spitting up blood, and soaking in their own sweat.  
"Fuck you." Eugene muttered.  
"Fuck honor." Sidney replied.  
x.x.x.x

The phone rang, and Teola felt that she didn't have the energy to lift herself from the bed to answer it.  
She covered her head with a pillow, and attempted to fall back asleep, once more.  
She felt that all she did was nap. Sleep was her escape from the agency, but mostly, from the memories of her poor Tom. In her sleep, she forgot everything. She had the peace she could have never obtained when she was awake.  
The phone continued, and Teola reached for it.

"Hello?" She breathed into the receiver, already exhausted by her consciousness  
"Teola, this is Rodney, from Esquire." His voice was cordial and polite, but already, it was giving her a headache.  
Teola ran a face over her groggy eyes in an attempt to wipe away confusion. She wasn't sure if it was all the alcohol, but his name didn't sound familiar at all.  
"Yes, Rodney, what can I do for you?"

He chuckled, "Well, I do believe you've already done it Miss Adams!" There was a pause, and Teola racked her pounding head for what he could be referring to  
"I just wanted to tell you how grateful we at esquire are to have you sign on for another year."  
The phone dropped from Teola's shaking hands, and her eyes welled with tears at the thought of staying here any longer that she had to.  
"Miss adams?"  
She quickly pressed the phone back to her ear, "Yes, yes."  
"I received the contract extension from Frank just the other day. He said you signed it just before leaving for the Yank shoot."

It hurt, and it wasn't easy- but Teola took a moment to reason through the contract extention. The contract extension she had never seen, heard, or spoken of. She'd never signed any contract. She'd never given any contract to Frank to forward to Esquire.  
She blinked in horror. She would not stay here any longer than Tallulah had originally signed on for.  
She wanted to go somewhere alone. Somewhere it was cool and quiet.  
Frank had overstepped this time. Pushy managers were one thing, illegal maneuvers were another.

She attempted to force a cheerfulness in her voice. "Oh of course. Excuse my confusion, but between you and me, last night was quite a celebration."  
A hearty laugh on the other end of the line. He was convinced.  
"With good reason! You'll be making even more millions."  
"As will you!"  
Another chuckle. He saw nothing suspicious. "That's good business Miss Adams!"  
"Then may it continue!" She told him, "I'll speak with you later."

She hung up the phone, and jumped out of bed, with more energy than she'd experienced in several weeks. She tore through magazines and schedules and pieces of paper on her desk before she had one with frank's number.  
She snatched the phone, and dialed the number.

A woman answered. "Esquire offices. Frank's office."  
Teola took a deep breath before beginning. "This is Essie Jo, is frank available."  
The woman's voice brightened instantly. "Oh, miss Adams, what a pleasure! He's not in at the moment, but I can leave a message for him."  
Teola shook her head, "Oh no, that's fine. Do you know when he will be in?"  
"Unfortunately, he has corporate meetings until tomorrow."  
"No matter, I'll call again."  
The woman spoke again. "You have a good day Miss Adams!"

Teola hung up, and collapsed back onto the bed.  
Today, today, like most days, would be bad.

But tomorrow- tomorrow would be good.


	36. Nothing like we thought

**Hello again! **  
**Once more sorry for the delay. I hope you all enjoy this chapter. Please leave me a review and let me know what ya'll think! ****Hope ya'll are still out there, haha, I know the updates on this story can be pretty sporadic. I hope everyone is enjoying the summer, and is much less sunburnt than me.  
As always, much love! :)  
-EllieMayy**

There was a knock on the office door.  
Hiskao looked up in surprise, no one ever bothered to knock.  
That was some sort of formality or courtesy that most people aboard the solace didn't seem to have time for.  
"Enter."

The boy who stepped into her was not the face she expected to see. He was young. So young she wondered how the recruiter hadn't caught him lying. He had dark hair that was still perfectly cut in the military style, signaling, he hadn't been in this hemisphere of the world for very long. He had eyes that were too large, that hadn't yet had to squint to push unsightly things from his vision. There was barely a wrinkle in his uniform, and the closer he came towards her, the more she thought she could still detect the scent of detergent upon the fabric. He smelled like soap, not sweat or blood. He was clean, unscathed.  
It was a shame he wouldn't stay that way. It was a shame that in a few days she would try to hold him still while the blood spewed from his chest, or pumped him full of morphine as she took a scalpel to dig shrapnel from his face.  
It was a pity that in a few days, he wouldn't' be a clean boy- he'd be a dead man.

"Are you Lieutenant Hayashi?"  
She shook herself from her thoughts, attempting not to stare at him as if he were already dead.  
"I am. What can I do for you?"  
He stood at attention, and gave her a salute which she waved off.  
"I'm Private Baker, and I'm here to deliver this message."  
His outstretched hand held an envelope, which she took from him.  
Why hadn't they phoned her?"  
Her sharp nails ripped though the seal, and she pulled the letter out. Her eyes ran over the text, and she gave him a small smile.  
"Do you know what this says Private?"  
"No Mam."  
She glanced out the window at the beach, watching soldiers file on and off of her ship.  
"Can you keep a secret?"  
His head bobbed eagerly.  
"It says we're leaving Pelelieu."  
His eyes grew even larger. "Leaving mam?"  
She folded the letter up, and placed it back in the envelope.  
"Yes, but you're not supposed to know that yet."  
The look in his eyes was far away and unfocused. He didn't sound happy to be leaving the most murderous place in the pacific. The way his eyebrows furrowed slightly, and the way his shoulders were no longer quite as straight, alluded to his disappointment.  
"I just got here."  
"Be glad."

She wanted to take his hand, and lead him to the adjacent room and show him the row of corpses that were lying on the floor, waiting to be cast out into an underwater mass grave. She wanted to take him up the beach, just beyond what was left of the treeline and show him the rows and rows of crosses.  
She wanted to take him upstairs, to the ward, and show him the men whose faces had been burnt away, whose limbs had been severed, and whose minds would forever remain in a perpetual state of terror.  
She wanted to show him, to tell him, it was nothing like he thought it would be.  
But she'd learned long ago that you couldn't tell a young man anything. Especially not about this. Not when they'd seen the newsreels, not when they'd read the magazines, not when they heard the broadcasts. Not when they imagined the brotherhood, the women, the beer, and glory that awaited the an ocean away.  
Reality never sat in until they heard the first screams, saw the first blood, smelled the first smoke, and felt their hearts drop into their stomachs.

"Can I do anything else for you lieutenant?"  
Hiskao shook her head. "No, but come find me when I can do something for you." She gave him a knowing glare. "You'll have your time out there- don't worry."  
Again he stood at attention, and again he gave her a salute.  
This time, she straighted her head and lifted it to her forehead.  
"Dismissed Private."  
He turned on his heel, and marched out of the room.  
She could only shake her head, and turn back to her paperwork.

x.x.x.x

Later that day, Hisako rounded the corner, pausing a moment to adjust her eyeglasses, which had fallen down onto the bridge of her nose. She was pulling her hair into a bun, one that could easily fit underneath her scrub cap. She had hours of surgeries until the evening. Her stop was just long enough to notice two marines, one with blonde curls, and one with copper hair walk into the triage area. She sighed to herself, and marched over in their direction, waving a disapproving finger.

"What the hell are you two doing on my ship?"  
"Getting medical attention 'mam." Eugene muttered, slightly intimidated by the small yet very annoyed nurse that stood in fron of him.  
Sid gave her a pleading glance and held up a pass signed by the C.O, "As ordered Mam."  
She glanced at their faces, noting the bruises, scrapes and black eyes. She saw a cut running across Sid's eyebrow that would need stitches, and a contusion on Eugene's jaw that would need to be drained.  
"Do tell me that you received these wounds in battle?"  
"Oh yeah, real hand to hand combat." Muttered Eugene.  
Her eyes flit between them, their awkward stances, their sideways glares at the other, and shook her head.  
"And I'm assuming by hand to hand combat, you actually mean a fistfight between the two of you, instead of with the enemy up on the ridge."  
"Yes Mam."  
"Correct."

She nodded, and gave them a braced smile, lips tightening as they spread over her teeth. She wasn't going to speculate what this fight was about. She already knew.  
"Well boys, I'm busy." She glanced down at the clipboard she carried, and scanned across a list of patients she needed to see. "I've surgeries until this evening and then, I've got rounds." She scribbled their names down on her chart. "And what were you planning to do for the rest of the evening?"  
"Nothing really. Maybe just-"  
Hisako cut them off. "Ah, just as I thought. So it won't be any problem to sit here for a few hours and wait for me then. will it?"  
Two heads shook in unison. "No mam."

She spun on her heel, walking away, writing them in on her chart, tacking at least an extra few hours to her already long day. Although maybe this would do them some good. Maybe they'd have a period of reflection, and realize what a nuisance they were. She turned back to them, and pointed her ink pen at them.  
"And if either one of you throws a punch on my ship, I'll stitch you without numbing you first."  
She saw her threat reflect in the slight widening of their eyes, and their obedient response of "Yes, mam."  
In fact, Hisako didn't actually plan on making them wait hours, or plan to stitch them without any anesthetic. She ambled up to one of the phones at the nurses station and picked it up, listening for the operator.  
No, she had a plan that would cause far more pain and embarrassment, and would teach these boys, never to let their nonsense disrupt the Solace.

"Yes, could you get me Nurse Adams? I've got two marines in the triage waiting for her."

x.x.x.x

The phone rang, and Tallulah stared at it. Not wanting to answer. She wanted to lie down and take a nap. Her back was aching, her feet were throbbing, and all she wanted was to be in bed, with Sidney, although they hadn't been afforded that luxury in a few weeks. She reached for the phone anyways. Duty called-literally.

"Nurse Adams."  
"Nurse Adams, Lieutenant Hayashi would like you to know you've got two patients waiting for you in triage."  
Tallulah had to stifle a groan, as she threw her head back, "Yes, mam. Will do."  
Tallulah hung up, and pushed herself out of her chair, clutching the small of her back as she did so. She yawned as she stepped out of her station, and reached for the chart. Her eyes widened as she read the names.  
She flung back the curtain to the triage area, to see Sidney and Eugene slumped against the wall.  
Her mouth fell open at the sight of their beaten faces, and their mouths fell open at the sight of her.

The skin above her husbands eyebrow had been ripped away, a small flap hanging down. A section of Eugene's jaw was swollen with fluid that would need to be drained. She saw other scrapes, bruises and cuts that littered their chests and arms, but all less serious than the wounds on their faces.  
The both stared up at her, attempting to gage the unreadably blank expression that settled upon her tired features.  
Sid was the first to speak, "Tallulah." He breathed, slowly pushing himself up from the floor.  
Eugene stayed seated, his gaze almost as dark as the two black eyes from which it radiated.  
Upon his feet, Sid attempted to come to Tallulah's side, arms outstretched, but she lifted a restraining hand. "What happened to you two?"  
From the floor, Eugene scoffed. "You."

Tallulah's eyebrows raised in horror, and wrinkles of concern sprouted on her forehead.  
"You punched him?" She asked glancing from Sidney to Eugene, and back again. "You two punched each other?"  
She was met by the reply of scuffing feet, and mumbles.  
Tallulah shook her head, and pointed at Eugene, noting the large contusion on his jaw. "Come with me." She beckoned for him to follow her.  
Sid's face fell, and he eased himself back down onto the concrete, hoping his wife would toss a glance over her shoulder.

But she didn't.  
x.x.x.x

"Sit down." Tallulah told Eugene, pointing to the exam table.  
"I'm alright." Eugene protested, coming to a standstill in the doorway.  
She shook her head, and pressed a hand to her throbbing temple. "Please, Eugene, make this easy for me."  
"I'm fine."  
When her eyes finally reopened, they flashed towards him, anger and annoyance sparking. "I said sit down."  
His hands slid into his pockets, and he shuffled around, but didn't move. "Just forget about it Tallulah."  
"Sit down Private Sledge." She commanded. "That's an order."

He glanced at the one stripe sewn upon the shoulder of her nurse's blouse, one more than he had on his own uniform. He'd forgotten she outranked him and Sidney both. He sat down on the exam table as she had ordered, and watched her prepare her supplies. She scooted closer to him on her sliding stool, alcohol in hand.  
She dumped some on to a cotton ball, and pressed it to his face.  
He winced as the substance permeated his skin, his hands clamping down on the edges of the metal table.  
"Damn, that burns." He noted.  
She nodded. "For your own good."  
A laugh escaped him, a hollow sound without any joviality. "They always used to tell me that, whenever I had all those doctors visits. Every time something hurt, it was always for me own good."  
She fixed him with a knowing state, "They were right weren't they? I heard the murmurs gone."

He stared down at his own sunburnt chest that had once encased the damning sound. "It is."  
Expectation hung in the air, low and heavy and oppressive like the humidity. An awkward silence fell over the room, as each waited for the other to speak.  
She continued to swipe alcohol over the cuts and scrapes on his face and on his chest. He seemed to wince whenever she touched him, and tense at the sound of her voice. So she continued her work in silence, her fingers moving towards a gash on his abdomen.  
He was watching her work, his eyes intent on her figure as if he as if he were searching for something.

"You're pregnant."  
It was more of a statement than a question, although it still sounded uncertain, as if he wasn't quite used to the idea.  
She still wasn't used to it herself.  
She didn't know what to tell him, so she repeated his words.  
"I'm pregnant."  
"I wish you weren't."  
Confusion spread onto her face, wrinkling her forehead, narrowing her eyes, and widening her mouth.  
"What does it matter?" She asked him, tossing the used cotton balls and swabs into the trash.  
"I always thought we would have children together."

She was thankful that she had turned away from him to retrieve a syringe from the drawer. She didn't want him to see the look on her face of complete agreement. She's always thought the same thing. Long before Sidney, she had pictured little redheads running rampant in the tall summer grass. She'd envisioned little redheads bouncing down the stairs on Christmas morning, and tearing through presents under the tree. She'd foreseen herself ushering little redheads onto the school bus in the early days of fall, and handing out lunches in paper bags.  
She had always believed she would have Eugene's children, but had recently been proven very wrong.

"Me too." Her honest response shocked the both of them.  
"You thought that we would have children?"  
She nodded, as she raised the needle to Eugene's jaw.  
"I thought we would have many children."  
He glanced up at her, "I never knew you thought about it. We never talked about it."  
She pressed the needle into the pocket of fluid, and watched as Eugene bit down on his lip.  
"Were we supposed to? We were only seventeen."  
She sucked some of the liquid from the contusion by pulling back on the syringe. His eyes closed, and he grimaced.  
"You're only nineteen now."  
She removed the needle and dried the area with a washcloth.  
"it's different."  
He shook his head. "You're different."  
"So are you." She retorted, tossing the washcloth back onto the table.

She stopped herself from making any further comments, arguing with him only exhausted her further.  
His next question surprised her.  
"How are you?"  
"You mean how am I doing?"  
"Yeah, are you feeling well?"  
She couldn't help but shake her head, all too aware of her swollen feet, aching back and pounding head.  
"How did you know?"  
He waved a hand towards her face. "You're blinking too much. You always blink too much when you're trying to focus on something, and have other things on your mind."  
She could only nod. He knew her all too well.  
She readied the needle for another insertion, and he braced once more.

"How's my sister?"

The question stung him more than the sensation of the needle piercing his skin. He still refused to believe that the girl he'd chased around Los Angeles, was not Tallulah, but Teola. He wondered how in those awful moments he'd gotten them mixed up, when he had never confused their identical faces before in his life.  
He wanted to blame it all on the alcohol and the atmosphere, but he knew he had only convinced himself that he had seen what he had wanted more than anything. Tallulah.  
The sensation of her arms around his back, her fingers in his hair, their lips back together- he had been overjoyed and elated.  
In that moment the fantasy he went to sleep dreaming about, came true- she was his again. She was his Tallulah. She was his future Miss Sledge.  
And then he was hit by the awful reality- that Tallulah was already married, already Mrs. Phillips, and that the woman he'd been with at the bar, was only Teola, acting out of rage. Eugene had awoken from his dreams to a world of shit, and he wished that he could drink it all away, and fall back into some state of blissful delirium, and have the fever never break.  
But instead he was in the Pacific, completely sober and completely beaten.  
Eugene sighed, tried to ignore the pain he felt in his jaw.

"She was okay." He told her, not wanting to remember the night he'd tried so hard to forget. "She was drinking rum, a whole bottle of it. She was smoking a cigerette."  
"She's never smoked or had a drink in her life."  
Eugene eyebrows raised. "You hadn't either."  
"What did she seem like?"  
Eugene could remember the glossed over, vacant gleam in Teola's eyes. "She seemed exactly like you Tallulah. Tired/, Annoyed. A little lit."  
Tallulah shook her head, feeling a few tears being to pool in the corners of her eyes. "I shouldn't have done this to her. How could I be that selfish?"  
"But you know Teola! She always wanted to be famous, ever since she was a little kid.  
"I used her." Tallulah admitted. "I should have warned her. I'm sure it's nothing like she thought it would be."

The only words that Eugene could think to comfort her, were Sidney's. "Nothing is like we thought it would be."  
She let the needle slide from under his skin, and she tossed the syringe in the sharps container.  
"Ain't that the truth?"  
She scribbled on his chart, and then plastered a medicated bandage to the side of his face, smoothing it to contour to his jawline.  
"You're good to go for now." She stood up from her rolling stool. "But you'll need to come back tomorrow and have someone drain it again. And go to the kitchen, and get some ice, try to hold it on your eyes."

He nodded, and hopped off the table.  
They stood in the doorway Tallulah fumbling with the chart, and Eugene running a hand though his hair.  
"I'll see you…" Tallulah told him, as she held out some pain pills in the palm of her hand.  
He took them and dumped them in his pocket.  
"Please take care of yourself." He paused and glanced down at her, "That's an order."  
Tallulah could only nod as he strode out the door.

x.x.x.x

Tallulah struck a match against it's box and lit the candle she had sat out on the edge of her nightstand. Her husband sat on the edge of the bed, wearing nothing but his boxers. However, their purpose this evening was not romance, but secretive stitching.

She sat down beside him, the skirt of her nighdress pooling around her.  
"You sure are a lot of trouble to be married too…"  
Sid gave a sad smile, knowing that her comment was true.  
He'd had too many infractions recently, not to mention the fact that he was almost court-martialed. He couldn't afford to have any more tarnishing incidents on his record, or else risk the possibility of losing his privileges as runner to the hospital ship, and thereby losing all opportunity to see Tallulah.  
So he sat with her in the flickering candlelight, covertly covering up any traces of his brawl with Eugene.  
"Am I?" He asked, watching her hold the needle over the flame.  
The corners of her lips upturned in the darkness, and she unsheathed a smile that could tempt the devil.  
"It's worth it."

He chuckled, and wrapped his arms around her, burying his face in shoulder.  
"It will be worth it." He mumbled, inhaling the sunkissed scent of her soft skin. "When we get home."  
She set the needle down, and pressed her lips to the top of his head, whispering into his curls. "It's worth it now Sidney."  
He glanced up at her, and pulled her closer, craving her warmth.  
"But it will be better when we get home, Tallulah. I'm going to get a job down on the docks, we're going to find a little house and fix it up." His hands spread out across her swelling stomach, and he planted kisses into the back of her neck.  
She sighed, half at his words, and half at his touch, the sound deep with desire.  
She wanted nothing more than to go home with him, have their child and start a life together in the States.  
"We've got to get off of this island first…"  
He placed a hand on each side of her face, and held her away from him, as if the lack of contact would make her focus.  
"When do you leave?"  
She leaned in, and pressed her forehead to his.  
"As soon as Hisako can get me a flight home."

He smiled, and pulled her face to his, their lips pressing together. He smelled like salt water, and tasted like cigerettes, but Tallulah had become used to the sent, and now found it familiar and comfoting. She ran her hands across his jaw, feeling the tickle of the little blonde hairs he hadn't shaved in a few days. Their tounge touched, and she felt the urge to drag him under the covers- then and there. But she had work to do. Reluctantly, she pulled away, shooting him a sympathetic glance as she did so. His hands clutched to her sides, in an attempt to drag her back, but she shook her head.  
"We've got to get started Sid." She whispered, as she glanced at the clock on the wall.  
She had a long day tomorrow, and needed her sleep now more than ever. She couldn't stand the look of dissappointment on his face, and so she gave him a swift kiss on the cheek. "You're just procrastinating anyways."

He laughed at her joke, and watched as she took a piece of thread, and expertly ran it through the hole in the needle. "I can't say I'm looking forward to it."  
Tallulah wasn't either- she hadn't been able to steal any anesthetic for him, since supplies were beginning to dwindle, and each syringe was accounted for. She held out a large green apple, and he stared at it in surprise.  
"You'll want this…"  
He raised an eyebrow. "What for. I'm not hungry."  
It was her turn to laugh, although she felt bad for doing so. "You're going to bite down on it, so you don't scream, or chew off a part of your gum."  
She had the needle and the thread, the alcohol and the apple. She was as ready as she would ever be. She motioned for him to come closer, as she put a pillow on her lap. "Lay down." She told him, patting the spot on the pillow where she wanted him to place his head. He did as she asked, and settled onto his side. She stroked his forehead, as she offered him the apple.  
"I guess I don't need to tell you."  
Sid finished her sentence. "This is going to hurt."  
She nodded, and held the piece of fruit while he bit down on it.  
"Ready?"  
He gave some sort of grunt, and Tallulah picked up the needle.

Wincing, she pricked the needle into his skin, and she immediately heard the crunch of his teeth crushing down on the apple. She pulled the needle through, watching the thread course through the small hole and emerge on the other side. She tried to ignore his shaking hands as she pressed the needle back into the flesh right above his eyebrow. Once again she pulled the wiry sting through the small hole and watched as it drew the spilt skin together. She tried to work fast, her hands dipping and tugging as quickly as she could make them. When she reached the peak of her rhythm, her hands seemed to dance and move with the needle and scissors and thread. Usually, she enjoyed stitching, when the patient was numb or asleep. The repetitive motion soothed and calmed her.

But not tonight, when it was so obvious how much it was hurting her husband. Sid's eyes were squinted shut, as if from his eyelids, he could squeeze out the pain. She murmured to him softly, saying all the things she could think of, about how it wouldn't be much longer, and how well he was doing. When she was able to tie off the last of her stitches, she then took a cottonball soaked in alcohol and swiped it across the area. When she finally placed a bandage over the area, she noticed that the apple had fallen from Sid's mouth. She stared down at the patterns of teethmarks and the spit left all over the skin of the shiny green fruit.  
Thankfully he had passed out.

She blew out the candle, laid down, gave him a kiss on the forehead and pulled the sheets over the both of him.

x.x.x.x

_The handle on the bathroom door shook and rattled, twisting and turning from right to left. Sid's eyebrows furrowed as he watched the door bang in its frame. _  
_He got up from the sofa, and put down the newspaper. "Tallulah?" _  
_There was no reply only the sound of the doorknob clattering. _

_Suddenly, the door swung open, and hit the wall with a loud smack._  
_ Tallulah burst from the bathroom, and almost immediately fell to her knees, clutching her swollen stomach. _  
_"Sidney!" She pleaded, her large eyes pleading up at him. _  
_His own eyes grew wide in horror at the sight of his wife collapsed at his feet, something red staining a telling area of her white nightdress. _  
_"What's happening?" He asked, his voice rushed as he dropped to the floor, and put a hand on her back. Her hands shook, her own blood dripping from her wet fingers. _  
_"It's coming." _  
_He shook his head, wild with disbelief. " No, no it's not. We've got at least a month in a half left."_  
_"It's coming Sidney."_

_She was hunched over, clutching her thighs together in a feeble effort to keep the child inside of her. _  
_He sprung from the floor, and ran to the telephone, dialing for an ambulance. _  
_He returned to her, as quickly as he could. But he found the scene even worse than when he had left it only seconds ago. Tallulah lay in a pool of her own blood, writhing and clawing at the carpet. _  
_What had he done to her?_

_He sat down beside her, running his hand across her cheek. "Someone's coming Tallulah. It's going to be alright."_  
_But his words were drowned out by her shrieks, as the contractions hit her, her body going rigid and then limp. Sweat plastered her hair to her face, and her eyes drifted more and more out of focus with each ragged breath. He held her hand and whispered to her, in an attempt to bring her any type of comfort. But she only stared up at him with eyes that begged for some sort of salvation. _  
_Her legs trembled from the exertion, and she panted for air that would never satiate the burning in her lungs. _

_She gave a final cry, and a large black object slid from between her legs. _  
_Sid could feel himself reeling, the focus in his own vision going in an out as he stared at the thing his wife had just birthed. Tallulah stared down at the thing that lay between her thighs, terror making her chest heave and her pupils dilate. _  
_"What is it?" She demanded, the words barely escaping her gasps. _  
_He shook his head as he glanced at it, knowing instantly what it was but also knowing it was impossible. His wife had given birth to a bomb._

_"It's a-"_  
_There was a small vibration in the room, and before he could do anything, the device exploded. Fire and shockwaves spewing from its black shell. Sid was thrown backwards against the living room wall, his hands ripped from Tallulah's grasp. _

_The room went blindingly white. _

x.x.x.x

Sid shot up in the darkness, his chest heaving and dripping with cold sweat. His brow throbbed, and he could feel the tension in every single muscle in his body. He took a few breaths to steady himself, and then dared to look next to him where Tallulah slept on.

In the blackness of the small cabin, Sid eyed her stomach, and for the first time since the invasion of Pelelieu, felt true fear.


	37. Before the Storm Hits

**Hello! **  
**Again, I apologize for the delay, but hope you guys are still with me! I hope everyone had an awesome halloween and is looking forward to the holidays ahead. Please read and review!  
Lots of Love,  
EllieMayy  
**

Teola's eyes seemed to always be in a state of perpetual squinting. Usually, it was because she preferred to keep her house unlit, and free from sunlight. Daylight reminded her that the sun still rose, even without Tom. The earth still turned- even without Tom. Life continued, even if Teola wished it didn't. She was starting to realize what an uncaring place the world truly was. Tom had his moment of recognition, his moment of silence, his moment of thanks, and it only lasted as long as took to read over his name printed in the deaths column in the paper in mobile. For his service he received in name printed in ink and a folded flag returned to his family. He would receive a resting place, six feet dug into the earth he could forever call his own. And one day, when the war was all over, he might even have his name slapped across a statue, commemorating the fallen.

And if she died? If Essie jo Adams somehow tragically overdosed? There would be a funeral for the millions. There would be headlines in every paper, and pictures for the world to admire, for people to shake their heads at and mourn such a loss of life. She would receive flowers, stuffed animals, cards and candle at her enormous mausoleum they would surely entomb her body in. People in Hollywood would probably dress in black, and her memorial service would probably be broadcast on the radio. But she wouldn't deserve what would come with her death.  
Tom did. They all did.

So she squinted down at the letter that lay on her kitchen table, next to the various bottles of pills and liquor.

_Teola Adams, _  
_ My name is Margie. I'm Tom's mother. After his passing, the marines sent us back Tom's personal belongings, among them was a letter to you. Although we've never met, since my son was only stationed in Mobile for the summer, I wanted to introduce myself. My son seemed very taken with you, but so taken, he seemed intent on proposing marriage. His body was delivered to us, here in Oregon a few days ago. He has been buried out on a small plot of land that overlooks the sound. He used to love that place when he was a boy. I understand that my son must have meant a lot to you, and if you ever want to come visit him, you are always welcome. Enclosed is our address, should you ever want to come find us. _  
_ -Margie_

Teola shut her eyes, and blindly reached for the bottle.

x.x.x.x

Tallulah's stared out the porthole window at a grey sky, that only got darker the further towards the horizon she looked. The skys looked heavy and bulging, as she felt, as if they needed to release vast amounts of pent up rain. She rolled over, and was surprised to find Sidney beside her. He was lying on his back, hands folded behind his head.

He must have heard her stir, because he shot up instantly, the swift movement interrupting the slowness and quietness of the morning. His eyes flashed, darting from corner to corner of the room. His hands flew to a belt he didn't wear, feeling for a gun he didn't carry. When his fingers found only the soft cotton of his skivvies, he heaved a groan, and shook his head as if to clear it. He looked over at his wife to find she was staring at him with the same sympathetically bewildered expression she always did when he woke in this way.  
He heaved a groan, and flopped over onto his stomach, burying his face into the pillow.

"I'm sorry." He muttered.  
She shook her head, and placed a hand on his back.  
"Turn over and look at me."  
His head swung from side to side.  
"Do it." She prodded him in the ribs, and by the time he had rolled over, both were laughing.

He grabbed her wrists, and pinned her to the bed, carefully easing some of his weight atop her.  
She giggled, and wrapped her hands around his neck. "Someone came out of hiding easily."  
His eyes narrowed, before he buried his face in her neck, nibbling the flesh there. "Someone's a temptress."  
She laughed, jerked on his dogtags, attempting to stop the onslaught of kisses that would leave half her neck purple before going to the ward to work.  
His lips were on her chest now, slowly meandering down to places she longed for them to visit during darker hours.  
"Sidney, I have to work this morning."  
"Maternity leave?"

She rolled her eyes, and settled back into the pillows, enjoying the sensation of his warm breath on her skin.  
But when he came to her protruding stomach, he stopped, as he usually did. Tallulah felt himself shift his weight, as he glanced up at her. His blue eyes always seemed bigger after he had been looking at her belly. She smiled down at him, as if giving him permission to continue. "Go on." She prompted. "Say hello." Sid placed a hand atop her stomach, and lowed his head as if he were speaking to the bump.

"Hello there little one." He whispered, reaching for Tallulah's hand and squeezing it. She smiled, feeling her eyelashes tickle the skin under her eyes, as Sid continued murmuring unintelligible things to her stomach. He placed his hands on either side of her belly, and gave it a kiss in the middle before looking up at her.

"What do you want to name it?"  
Her fingers stopped running though his blonde curls lifted a nail to her mouth to chew on as she always did when she was thinking. "I don't know." She answered, feeling ashamed that she hadn't thought of it before. "Sidney?"  
He scoffed and shook his head. "No. I want to name it something new. Something for just the two of us."  
"Our families will want something with tradition."  
He grinned up at her, shamelessly. "Aren't we already breaking tradition by emerging from the pacific without a marriage license, but with a baby?"  
Tallulah admired her whalebone ring in the morning light. "I've all the license I need." He smiled up at her, and his hands on her knees, attempting to pull them apart.  
She laughed her protest, which only urged him on.  
"I have to go to-"  
"Hush." He breathed, his hands gripping her ankles as his lips grazed up her thighs.

There was a knock at the door, which made Tallulah jump.  
"Sidney?"

Two pairs of eyebrows shot up at the sound of the familiar voice. Sidney groaned his displeasure, but his hands remained wrapped around his wife's legs. "What is it Eugene?"  
"I'm sorry. I was told to come look for you up here."  
Tallulah felt and uncomfortable pressure on her ankles, as Sid's grasp tightened to the point of discomfort.  
"What do you want?" Sid growled. "It can't wait?"  
"No. We're steaming now, before the storm hits. You have fifteen minutes to get back down to the troop ship."

The desire drained from Tallulah's heavy gaze, and her eyes flew open, brimming with fear.  
Sid's released his hold on his wife, and stood up immediately. He threw on his stained shirt, wriggled into his dungarees. Tallulah forced herself up from the bed, sadness making all of her motions slower. She felt it now, the swelling in her feet, the soreness in her back, a panging in her temple. And it was all because he was going. He wrapped his hands around her waist, and rested his head over her shoulder, as she placed hers to his chest.

They stood there, savoring every last second of quiet stillness. She could feel his breathing, the rise and fall of his inhale and exhale. And then she felt it. A kick. A stirring from deep inside her, that made her jump back in surprise. She'd felt it before, in the late hours of the night when she was in her bunk alone. But never with him. She grabbed his hand, and placed it on her stomach, hoping he would feel the same thing.

He drew in a sharp breath, and his eyes lifted from her stomach to meet her gaze, while his hand stayed compressed on the spot he had felt the movement. His mouth opened, as if he were going to begin speaking, but she didn't want to hear his goodbye.  
She wrapped her hands around his neck, and drew him into a slow kiss. But he pulled away.

"You have to get out of here."  
She stared up at him, trying to move closer, but he place a hand on each shoulder and held her away, as if the distance would make her focus.  
"You have to go home Tallulah." He told her, his eyes darting from her face to her abdomen. "You have to go soon. You can't be out here anymore. It's too damn dangerous."  
She didn't want to argue with him in their last few moments together. So she nodded, as he bent down to kiss her forehead.

"Promise me, I won't see you out here again. Promise me the next time I see you- it will be back in Mobile."  
She swallowed back the metallic taste that had been building in her mouth. She felt as sick as she had in the earliest days of her pregnancy.  
"Then promise me you'll come home!"  
He gathered her into a tight hug, and moved his lips to her ear. "I love you Tallulah." He whispered, his hands cupping her cheeks. "I promise you that."  
There was another rapid knock at the door. Sid pulled away, giving Tallulah's hand a final squeeze, before jogging out into the hallway where Eugene waited.

x.x.x.x

Eugene watched his friend dart out of the room, and down the hallway. He was about to do the same when he heard an explosion of sobbing from behind the door. He glanced back up the dark passageway of the ship- Sidney was already out of sight, attempting not to be late for what could have surely been the final time of military career. Eugene should have done the same, but he couldn't just leave her like that. So he opened the door and stepped in the room, knowing the scene long before he saw it. She was sitting in a ball on the floor. Her knees were pressed to her heaving chest, and her face was buried in her hands. She glanced up at the sound of the door opening, and blinked away tears to stare at him.

"Eugene?"

He sat down on the floor beside her, unsure of what to do or say. He knew the way he used to comfort her when she would cry, to pick her up and place her in his lap, and wrap his arms around her and whisper to her until the sobs would subside. But those methods were no longer applicable. But he couldn't stand the sight of her tear-streaked face, her bloodshot eyes, and her shaking frame. So he placed a hand on her shoulder, hoping it would be just enough. She didn't anything. She didn't even look at him, but she let his hand stay. And after a few moments, she stopped crying. She turned around to look at him, the redness of her eyes only accentuating her green irises.

"Please don't let him die out there."  
Eugene stared down at the cement floor. "He's the one that saved my life Tallulah." He attempted to smile, to force his lips upward in an attempt to make hers do the same. "But I owe him one."  
She ran a hand though her hair, that was frizzy from the humidity and the friction of rubbing against the sheets.  
"Don't let yourself die out there either."  
He gave a little chuckle. "So you don't want me dead?"  
She whirled around to face him, her curls whipping around behind her. Her face was set in a taut expression, her eyes narrowed, mouth drawn, her teeth grit together. Eugene was afraid he was about to feel the backside of her hand, before he noticed how her facial features shook, and her hands trembled.  
"How dare you say that Eugene!" She rasped, as she glared at him. "I'm a nurse. I don't want anyone to die out there."  
He felt the immediate need to shuffle his feet or stick his hands in his pockets, but from a sitting position it was hard to do either. "Thought it might be different for me."

She stared out the porthole window, noting how much further the sun had already risen in the morning sky. She could see soldiers filing onto the troop ship from the island and from the Solace. She watched the unidentified silhouettes, wondering which ones she would see again, and which ones would remain in a perpetual shadow. She placed a hand on the bed, as she attempted to rise from the floor. Noting her movement, Eugene quickly, jumped up, and offered her a hand. She took it. Her hand sliding into his, a place it used to be so frequently found. When she was on her feet, instead of letting go of his hand, she continued to hold it.

"I don't want you to die Eugene." She whispered, somehow finding the courage to look him in the eye, and touch him at the same time. "I want this war to end. And I want you to go home, or go to wherever you feel like, and find someone who loves you as much as I did."  
He let a deep sigh, as his eyes drifted from the ring around her finger to the bulge in her stomach.  
"I want this war to end too." He replied. "And I want you to go home and be as happy as you possibly can."  
Finally, her pale lips parted, unsheathing a smile he instantly admitted to himself he would always miss.  
"You have yourself a deal, Private Sledge."  
He turned to leave, but paused in the doorframe. "Take care of yourself Lieutenant Phillips."

He raised a hand to his forehead, but before she had time to give him a salute back, the doorway was empty.

x.x.x.x

Teola crept into the room, and shut the door behind her. She bolted it too, sliding the little metal lock into it's socket. The room was dark, but she could not turn on the light, otherwise Franks's secretary might notice what she miraculously had not - that Frank was not in his office, but someone else was. She stared around the room, for a moment taking in the place where the man she hated most did his bidding. It was as she had expected it to be.

There was a large chair made of Italian leather sitting behind a huge desk that surely never paperwork, simply drinks and the asses of waitresses to stupid to pull down their skirts. He had an elaborate light fixture hanging from the ceiling, something that looked more like it belonged in a château or place instead of esquires main offices. The carpet was rich and red, and only served to remind visitors that the owner of the office was rich enough to walk all over something so expensive. At the corner of the room there was a marble topped table, decorated will all forms of alcohol. Wincing, as she felt her tongue begin to tingle, Teola turned away from it, and stared at the pictures all over the wall.

There were posters of various esquire models hung all over the walls, their bodies, clothed in evening dresses, or exposed in small swimsuits, mounted on the walls like deer heads in a hunting lodge. Right behind Frank's desk was a picture of her sister. She was laying on her stomach on a beach somewhere, in a polka dotted bikini that was a convenient two sizes to small. Her breasts toppled over the confines of the bating suit top, and the bottoms exposed a decent amount of her ass. She was grinning at the camera with some girlish glee, as if the picture were not taken by Esquire, and as if wouldn't be posted in every barrack in every army base, splattered with semen. She was smiling at the ridiculousness of how small the pieces of her bikini as if to an adoring boyfriend who held the camera, soaking in the sight of his usually modest girl in such a revealing outfit. A blue pacific sparkled in the background, but it was the last thing anyone staring at the picture would look it. It was almost impossible to stop looking at the effervescent blond on the beach.

Teola shook her head, and stopped staring at the picture. She'd fallen for Frank's trick and she wasn't even one of his customers. Mesmerize them with Essie jo from the moment they walk in the door. It had worked well on her, she dared to wonder how effective it was on men.

She took a seat in the large chair, and opened a drawer in the desk. She peered inside, and to her surprise saw exactly what she was looking for. Her contract. And on top of that, the notorious contract extension she has been made aware of on the phone by some bumbling executive. It was signed in her name, and dated, it was even stamped with some seal that managed to look official although Teola doubted that it was. She stared down at it for a few moments, making sure she truly saw it, that it truly existed. She smiled to herself, and shut the drawer. She made her way to a side window, which she easily opened and slipped though. All that sneaking out on late summer nights in Mobile had severed her well.

She hopped into an awaiting car, with Thomas at the wheel.  
"Where to Miss Adams?"  
She stared out for a moment at the offices of Esquire, and couldn't help but feel her lips turn upward at the thought of Frank's undoing in what would surely be legal shit storm.

"You don't happen to know where the nearest law firm is, do you?"

x.x.x.x

Tallulah scrubbed her hands in the sink, trying to wash away the orange stain that antiseptic iodine always left behind. She stared out at the remnants of sunlight that were fading off behind the breakers, making them look dark and tall. She could see the storm everyone had been talking about off in the distance, yet closer than it had been this morning. The water underneath it was rougher, and the skies above it more ominous. Grey fingerlike clouds reached out to touch the feeble sunset, as if to drag it away.

She was tired. The day had been long, and exhausting, both physically and emotionally. Each week she felt that the child sapped more of her stamina, and each week it seemed there was more and more to do. She was reaching for a towel when Hisako rounded her corner, and peeked her head behind Tallulah's curtain.

"Emmeraudo."  
Tallulah smiled at the voice, steady, low, and comforting.  
She sat the cloth on the table, and turned to face her friend. "What can I do for you?"  
It was then that Hiskao's eyes widened just a little, and she ran a hand across her face. "I meant to get you out of here earlier in the week."  
Tallulah stared down at her stomach, wondering if it was now to the point where it could not be attributed to any other excuse, like weight gain. She wondered how it was even possible to gain weight during a war.

"I'm fine." She told the other nurse. "I'm holding up really well."  
Hisako peered at her for a moment, her eyes narrowing and her eyebrows furrowing. "you don't want to leave do you?"  
Tallulah blinked down at the floor, unsure of why she felt the way she did, why she felt so called to stay in this hellish hemisphere. "Not really."

Hisako gave a little groan, and then shook her head. "Look, I've got a surgery that I have to do before the storm hits. But I have one that didn't make it. Dead when he got to the boat."  
There was a time when Tallulah would have felt her face fall, her mouth downturn, her eyes lower, and brow fall. But not anymore. It happened so many times, it was as if she'd grown emotionally stiff.  
She nodded. "Does he just need to be-"  
The word "processed" sounded so mechanical. The phrase bagged and tagged sounded so casual.  
"Cleaned up." Hisako told her, giving her a pat on the slumping shoulder. "I head he was a very brave one. He's being awarded the Naval cross."  
Tallulah placed a hand on her friends and squeezed it.  
"Bed 17." Hiskao told her, as Tallulah nodded, and turned to make her way to the ward.

x.x.x.x

The ward was quiet this evening, as most of the casualties had been flown out this morning, while the weather was still expected to be hospitable to the planes. There were only a few nurses quietly working on a handful of patients who were not yet well enough for a flight stateside.

Tallulah walked up to the bed, and stared down at the body which was still covered with a sheet. He still had his boots on. She picked up a rag that had been soaking in a basin of soapy water, and flung back the sheet.

His jawline was strong and angular as if cut with a razor into the perfect shape, and he had thick dark hair that was mattered with blood and mud. But it was his eyes that gave him away, so dark, pupil couldn't be separated from iris.  
A look down at his nametag only confirmed what Tallulah already knew. Basilone.

The soapy rag fell from her grasp, as her hands flew to her mouth.  
"John." She breathed.

There was a crack of thunder in the distance.


	38. Scream- Part I

**Hello!**

**Again, I apologize for the delay, but hope you guys are still with me! I hope everyone is having a wonder Christmas and holiday season. This chapter is relatively short, but it is dedicated to Kit-Marie from Australia. She left me a really beautiful review, and I appreciate it so much :) Just to let ya'll know, my other story, A Smile to Die For, is being re-vamped, but the first chapter should be out within a few days. Anyways, thanks so much to Kit-Marie for her lovely review- it was a wonderful Christmas present for me! Please read and review. And know that part two of this chapter should be out within a few days.**

**Lots of Love,**

**EllieMayy**

"What was this hell."

That was all Sidney Phillips could think as he heard the splatter of mud underneath his boots as he jumped over the side of the amtrac. Eugene was by  
his side, his dark eyes darting from horizon to horizon, from heaving ocean, to the sharp ridges that stood before them

"Welcome to Okinawa." The gunny sergeant called, pausing a moment to pull thecigarette from between his lips.  
"You smell that boys?" he asked, turning his ragged face into the wind. "That's the smell of victory."

Sid wasn't sure what Gunny smelled in the smoke filled air other that the scent of freshly burnt and rotting bodies. Sid inhaled, breathing in the supposed scent of winning a war. It filled his lungs, and coated them with the ash of scorched corpses, and charred first. He almost bent over and puked, and when he turned back to look at Eugene, he saw other ben hunched over and retching. The gunny Sargent motioned the company forward , and Sid fell into  
line beside Euegne and Snafu whom he hadn't seen in quite some time.

Snafu was wearing a grin on his face as they plodded up a hill, guns pointed.  
"I like that smell." He noted, his large green eyes wide.  
Eugene scoffed and shook his head. "Well I sure as hell don't."  
Snafu leaned over and pressed his forehead to Eugene's staring his straight in the eyes.  
"These Japs fighting for their own turf now. They'll get meaner and meaner every damn foot we go south." His voice was in a growl as he smacked his forehead against Eugene's as if to literally bash his point into the skull of his comrade. "You better get mean too."

Eugene grunted and pushed Snafu away, but Snafu simply chuckled, and jogged a few feet ahead.  
Sid couldn't help but nod. He knew Snafu was more that right. The Japs knew they couldn't win, but they could make the Americans belled like hell before  
claiming victory. This battle was going to be determined by who could hold out the longest. Who could stay sane in the hills and valleys on this island made entirely from muck. This battle was going to be won, life by life, until one side ran out of soldiers. And the Japanese would run out first, it was merely a matter of how many American lives they would take with them. There would be no true winners were on Okinawa, only bodies.

The company trudged on past a jeep, it's tires stuck in deep ruts of mud, evidence of it's useless churning in an attempt to escape. Sid couldn't help but notice the driver was still inside, bent over a blood encrusted steering wheel, his skull smashed in. He'd beat his own brains outon the dashboard, hitting his head against the instrument panel until he died. Sid felt his stare was followed by many others, as heads turned to look at the sights of a man who killed himself rather than attempt to fight the massive amount of muck any longer. Sid could guarantee that every man in the company was praying he would never go crazy enough to do such a thing. Sid noticed that because of the mud, the dead could not be given a proper burial. Bodies that were buried would simply bubble back up to the surface, hands, feet and and noses poking through the mire. This whole island was a swimming cemetery. Sid hoped that if he died, they'd have the sense to set his corpse afire, insteadof letting him float aimlessly around in the soupy mud. He'd rather contribute to the island's ash, then its mud.  
The gunny sergeant finally halted and turned to face his company, whose faces had all frozen into a single expression of horror.

"Dig in boys." He told them, before pointing to a ridge. "Tomorrow, I'll take volunteers who want to take that ridge with me, and help relieve the first  
marines."

Sid didn't bother taking out his shovel. He just plopped down into the meet, feeling it seep through his clothes and onto his skin.  
Already, Sid was more miserable on his first few hours on Okinawa than every else he'd been in the entire war.

x.x.x.x

Tallulah stared down at the body of John Basilone. She had to stop herself from placing her hands on his chest and starting compressions. By the pallor of his  
face, and the stiffness in his limbs, she knew that he was long gone, but the sight of his strong figure so listless threatened to snap something already  
fragile in Tallulah. The threshold was being breached. In a single day, she'd seen Sid and Eugene leave to invade Okinawa, she'd felt the stirrings of her  
child, she'd made a promise to Sid that she had no intention of keeping, and now, she stood over the dead body of one of the only true friend's she'd ever  
had. As tears trickled down her cheek she picked up the rag that had fallen to the floor. She tossed in a dirty laundry hamper, and retrieved a clean towel.  
It seemed wrong to wipe away the dirt on John's face was something already soiled. She dipped the cloth in the basin of hot water, and with smooth strokes  
began to wash away the dirt and blood smeared across his face. She cried quietly to herself, and she performed her work, watching her tears mix with the  
wash water.

She wanted to stop, to fling the towel to the floor and scream. She wanted to let out a scream that would echo throughout the ward, bounce off the  
walls, and bound out over the ocean. She wanted to scream so loudly that she could be heard over the roar of artillery fire, over the shrieking of shells,  
and the cries of the owned. She wanted to scream so loudly that someone would hear her above the drone of a poolside party, and clinking of champagne glasses. She wanted to scream so loudly that they would hear her in Mobile above the sound of hammers clanking against steel hulls. She wanted to scream  
so loudly that she could be heard in Washtong and Japan. But for every reason she had to yell, to belt her sorrows out to the world, some soldier on the  
beach had equal reason. Some unlucky mother of four had equal reason. Some now fatherless child somewhere had equal reason.  
And maybe they were screaming- but Tallulah couldn't hear them.

Her eyes swept over John's face, which was surprisingly calm and peaceful. She wondered if Lena would scream when she could hear that he was dead. She'd heard Sid scream many nights, terrified of something he'd seen once, that was no longer there, but continued to haunt him.  
She was sure Teola screamed when she learned that Tom had been burnt to death.  
She wondered if everyone who felt like she did screamed if the entire world would be deafened, and the earth would be completely silent.

With careful fingers, she began unbuttoning John's shirt, exposing the dark, Italian skin on his chest. It was then that she saw the wound. A gaping hole  
right in the center of his chest. She placed her hand over the damage, to block it out, and imagined him whole again. Imagined him alive again.  
She still remembered their photoshoot together. It had been less than a year ago, but still seemed an eternity away. Tallulah reached down and ran the washcloth over his arms, forever branded with the scares from the third degree burns he willingly received that night in the jungle. She traced the markings with her fingertips, wondering exactly what drove a man like John return to all this hell. He'd met the girl of his dreams, and was living life like a celebrity . And yet, John needed to have his boots on contested soil, his hands around a weapon, bearing his body for his country.  
Duty wasn't taking a victory tour to show off his medal and mutilations- duty was hitting the beach. She tossed the rag back into the washbasin and picked up the needle and stitching thread that lay on the bedside table. She took the needle and pierced his tan skin, and watched the thread slide through the hole. She repeated the motion again and again until the two halved of john's chest were sewn back together in a neat pattern of x's. When she was finied she  
redressed his clean body in his tattered uniform. They would surely put his dress blues on for his burial when he was transported stateside.

She wiped a few more of her tears away and took his hand, forcing her fingers in between his that had grown cold and stiff.  
She squeezed his hand, before placing it on her swollen stomach.

"I know what I'm going to call him." Tallulah bent down and whispered in John's ear, praying her could somehow hear her.  
"If he's a boy. He'll be John."  
She sat with him, his hand in hers, until she felt she had the strength to move.  
Finally she rose from her seat at his bedside, and bent down to give him a kiss on the forehead, before walking through the ward and down the hallway.  
When she arrived at her room, Tallulah collapsed upon the bed, grabbed a pillow, and buried her face deep into the fluff.

Then she screamed until she cried.

And cried until she fell asleep.

x.x.x

The night was long, muddy and orange.  
And Sid hated every fucking second of it.  
Sid sat in his sorry excuse for a foxhole and stared at Eugne who was huddled up next to him.  
"What is this place?" Sid mused to the darkness, holding up a handful of mud.  
"Hell's own cesspool." Eugene answered, his arms folded across his chest for  
warmth.

Sid was tired. He wanted nothing more than to close is eyes and feel sleep start to seduce him. But instead he stared up at a sky that was far too bright,  
a sky that was the color of cooked carrots. Pure blackness would have been too great a luxury for the first marines and their stinging eyeballs. Even on  
Guadalcanal, the nights were dark and only lit by the flash on gunfire streaking through the jungle plants. Here, the night was perpetually a glow.  
Something was always burning, something was always exploding, something was always aflame and afire,- painting the sky Sid's least favorite color. His  
minds was screaming at him to return to the troop ship and return to Tallulah and the baby. But the troop ship has sailed and the Solace remained anchored an unreachable and dishonorable distance away.

Suddenly there was a flurry of movement and Sid looked up to see Snafu perching on the edge of his foxhole, peering down at him and Eugene, like  
a vulture waiting.

Sid didn't bother to speak to Snafu. He didn't even bother to move. Snafu's unpredictable jestures no longer surprised him. Sid just stared back at him, his blue eyes illuminated by the fiery landscape.  
Snafu finally spoke. "Gunny wants volunteers. HQ decided we needed to get an early start taking that ridge."  
Eugene snorted. "And I suppose you've come to collect us?"  
Snafu's head cocked to the side, and in the flow of the distant explosions, Sid could see his eyes, wide and unblinking as usual.  
"Well, ya ain't sleeping. Might as well make yourselves useful."

Sid wondered how long Snafu could crouch like that, with all his weight dropped onto the back of heels, his hands hanging between his legs.  
But he imagined he would remain there, until he got an affirmative answer. He would just sit there, staring at them, and daring them to face death with the same nonchalance and apathy as he did.

But Sid no longer felt the stirrings of duty deep within him, like he once had.  
In fact, Sid was quite tired of fighting, and he had never been quite as afraid of dying as he was now, with two other lives depending on his. Somehow,  
the thought of his wife and his child far outweighed the service of becoming a corpse for his country. But he knew in every foxhole, sat a husband and in  
every entrenchment sat a father, who still choose to be a soldier.

Sid grunted, and rose from the muck he sat in. He extended a hand to Eugene.  
"You coming?"  
Eugene stared up at him, and his lips twisted up into a grin, as he grabbed his  
friend's forearm. "Yeah."  
Sid picked up his fun and turned just in time to see Snafu slink off into the smoke. Everything inside him was screaming at him to stay in his stupid foxhole, to forget honor, and huddle back down into the mud. But he trudged out of his hole anyway, shooting a glance over his shoulder at Eugene.

"Don't get killed out there." He warned, screaming over the shrieking shells. "Stay close."


	39. Scream- Part II

**Hey guys :) Here's the next chapter! Hope you enjoy, and also, hope it keeps you on the edge of your seats. once again, thanks so much to Kit Marie for her reviews. Really, to hear ya'll thoughts just make my day.  
Lots of love,  
EllieMayy**

Sid wasn't sure how long they company had been walking, but it was long enough to see the night be eaten up by a brilliant sunrise. But even the bright colors of the painted sky weren't enough to make this place, with it's crumbling bunkers, burnt trees, sliding rock, scorched earth, and deep mud any more beautiful. They walked in formation, with three men in front, two men in the middle, and three men behind. Sid, Eugene and Snafu brought up the rear of the small company. Although the mood was uneasy as they approached the ridge, the company made small talk in an attempt to keep the atmosphere somewhat light.

"Where'd you get that new poncho?" Eugene asked Snafu, who wore the only garment in the group that was not torn to pieces.  
Snafu unsheathed a devil's grin. "Told some new boot that they had chemicals in them."  
Sid couldn't help but shake his head, he wondered why new recruits seemed to trust the always helpful advice of the most insane man in the company.  
"Know what I heard?"  
Sid hardly wanted to ask, but he found himself complying anyways. "What?"

Snafu looked over his shoulder as if what he were about to say were a large secret.  
"Heard John Basilone's dead over on Iwo Jima…"  
"No!" Eugene muttered. "That can't be true."  
Sid snorted. " Where'd ya here that kind a scuttlebutt?"  
Snafu snarled at them, their reprimand for not believing him.  
"Heard it from guy who knows a runner to the Solace."  
Eugene shook his head, "Nah, not Basilone."  
Snfau nodded, but the motion was reluctant, as if he wished he wasn't right. "Yeah, Basilone. I heard they found an Italian body with a medal, and burns on his arms."

Sid frowned, if what Snafu said was true it would be damper to the entire regiment to find out, that John Basilone, hero of Guadalcanal, had died. After his actions in that hellish jungle, which Sid had been present for, he seemed more god than man. How had held a gun that hot? How had he run through so many bullets and not been hit?

Gunny held up a hand and the whole company came to a stop. He ordered Snafu and a few other men to scout ahead, while he motioned for Sid, Eugene, and the radioman to stay with him and sent a message back to HQ.  
Once the four others had rounded the corner, Sid noticed a rustling in the trees, and a few rocks slide off the ledge.  
"What's that?" He whispered, to Eugene, who pointed his rifle at the ridge, which was suddenly still again.  
There was man crouching behind a tree, his hands filled with explosives.  
"Get down!" Sid screamed, throwing himself to the ground, as the man on the ledge tossed a grenade from each hand down at the men below.  
There was a loud explosion, the ground shook, and Sid felt the earth grow warm around him. When he looked up he saw the radioman, blown to bits by the blast, pieces of his body melted into the ground. Gunny's legs had been separated from his body, and his guts poured onto the dirt.  
Sid was breathing hard as he picked up his weapon, and motioned for Eugene to do the same.  
They both fired a few shots off into the ridge, but the man was no longer there.  
"We gotta find the others!" Eugene yelled, motioning for Sid to move.

But Sid could only stare at the unexploded grenade right at Eugene's feet. Time seemed to slow as Sid's gaze went from an unknowing Eugene, to the device.  
The moment he found his voice, the grenade began shaking, as Eugene stood there, motioning for Sid to follow him up the hill. It was too late, the device would explode, and Eugene had no chance of escaping the detonation radius.  
So Sid threw himself upon his friend as the grenade exploded.

He felt the blast rip through his body, he felt his bone rattle, and his blood began to pour- and he let out a scream.

x.x.x.x

Dying was not quite how Sidney Phillips had expected it to be. Although he knew that there were thousands of ways to go, he had always anticipated that it would be swift and sudden, or at least and unconscious process. He envisioned bullets piercing his heart or ripping through his brain, either of which would have left him dead instantaneously. He'd seen himself being blown apart by shells, his body landing in tin pieces, scattered along a bloody beach. He'd even seen himself on fire, burning flesh melting away from smoldering bone. But for whatever reason, he had not pictured this- lying on a rocky incline, his blood slowly, but unstoppably trickling out of him and onto the stones below. And he had not imagined Eugene would be beside him, suffering the same gradual fate.

He stared up at an ashy sky, smoke clouds partially obstructing the sun. He knew the temperature was scoarching, but for once on his tour of the pacific, Sidney Phillips was cold. He had stopped looking at the gaping wound around his ribs and at the other on his thigh. He no longer wanted to see the steady stream of blood he was donating to the rocks he lay on, that he had given for this islan of attrition. His sacrifice was not and instant shot to the head, or an obliterating shelling. He would beel out for his country on top of a contested ridge that he had failed to take. He took a deep breath and felt some more blood squirt from between his ribs. He supposed it was fitting enough that he would die on this hill that might or might not matter in the taking of Okinawa. He hadn't been a very good soldier. He'd been AWOL as much as he had been present. He'd done more drinking and smoking that he'd done scrubbing oil drums. He'd fucked as much as he'd fought. But he had fought. He could credit himself with that much.  
He'd tasted blood on Guadalcanal, choked it down on Gloster, drank gallons of it on Pelelieu, and now bathed in on Okinawa.

He stared up at the sky some more, the place he always figured God resided. His eyes focused on one wisp of smoke as he tried to find things to say he was sorry for. His lips moved in a useless fashion, conjuring up spit and blood instead of an apology. He had always imagined that when his time came he would want to say a confession and addresses his grievances. But now, as he stared heavenward, he could not force his lips to whisper for forgiveness. He found he could not offer remorse for the Japanese soldiers he'd killed, or for his sexual relations outside of marriage. In fact, Sid's only regret was that he hadn't captured the damn ridge. He would die in the worst way possible, wallowing in his own failure. He scoffed and slammed his fist into the ground. And his biggest failure wasn't even to the marine core, but to Tallulah, for getting himself killed up here. The fact that he wasn't going to be able to return to her was the biggest mistake he could have made. And that baby. What was she going to do with that baby? He could help think that maybe she would still love it, maybe it's face would hold just enough of him that she could look at it and smile instead of sob. How has he managed to leave her with a whalebone band and an unborn baby?

He felt his jaw begin to shake, a combination or repressed sobs and shivering. Feeling the scrape against his cheek he turned his face against the rocks to look over at Eugene.  
"You still there?" He asked, afraid his question would never be answered, that it would hang in the air forever.  
But to his relief he heard a grunt, and watched Eugene's head twist in his direction.  
Eugene groaned his reply. "Unfortunately."  
Sid could not help but laugh in response. "This whole damn thing is just unfortunate, ain't it?"  
Eugene sighed and settled back to stare up at the smoke filled sky. " This was is the most unfortunate thing that has ever happened to anyone."  
Sid couldn't help but notice the smile that his lips began to slide into. "And we wanted to so bad."  
"So goddamn bad." Eugene muttered, one of his hands clenching a stone in anger.  
"Why?" Sid mused, as he watched the sun come in and out of focus.  
Eugene shrugged."Why not? Gun, girl, glory."

The middle word was awkward, something so shared, and yet, passionately unshared between them. Sid knew they were both thinking of Tallulah.  
Eugene shrugged it off by changing the subject. "I slept with a woman in Los Angeles."  
"I slept with a woman in Melbourne." Sid admitted to his own night with Gwen, the Australian girl.  
"How was it?" Eugene asked.  
Sid cringed. "Squeaky." He stated honestly. "Bed made more noise than she did."

Eugene laughed, a deep and hearty sound that echoed off the cliff and bounded out across the ocean.  
But silence soon settled over the two of the, only broken by the screeching gills, breaking waves, and artillery fire off in the distance.  
So Sid lay there in the heat and the pool of blood he had already lost. For the first time in over two years he had goosebumps running up and down his arms. The more blood he lost the more apathy overcame him, creeping over the ground like a thick, low-laying fog. He wondered when it would hit Eugene, when the coldness, and the sleepiness would threaten to overtake him as well. All Sid wanted to do was close his eyes, and succumb to the overwhelming ache he felt in his bones, but he kept on staring skyward.

"Will you promise me something, Gene?" Sid asked, not bothering to look over at his friend. He didn't feel he had the strength.  
"No." Eugene told him. "We aren't promising anything yet. A medic might get here. "  
Sid was the first to say it, the first to actually speak the unsaid words already hanging in the air.  
"We're going to die Eugene."  
Eugene's reply was honest. "I don't think I'm ready."  
Sid sighed, straining to keep his eyes open and his vision focused. "I wish I wasn't."  
"Maybe someone will come."  
If he'd had the energy Sid would have shaken his head. Instead he changed the subject.  
"If out get out of here- take care of her Eugene. Please, please, take care of her and the baby."  
"I will."  
"Don't be angry with her."  
"I won't.  
"Don't hate my kid."  
"I couldn't."

Sid settled back against his stony deathbed, comforted by Eugene's answers.  
Suddenly Eugene let out a howl, and Sid heard the sound of gravel and rocks moving.  
He couldn't turn to look. He could no longer move much of anything. But he called out. "What happened?"  
There was no reply but more groaning, the sount of more rocks sliding. "What the hell are you doing?" Sid yelled again. He attempted to roll from his back to his side, but the motion was as hard for him as it would have been for a newborn child. He collapsed back onto the ground, cursing. But just as he did, he found Eugene lying beside him, propped up on his scraped forearms, chest heaving with exertion. Sid's eyes widened, as he stared at the blood pouring from Eugene's leg.

"What did you do?"  
Eugene held up something Sid had only seen in times of great dire and necessity- a direct transfer syringe. He'd seen it used on those inevitably dying, and those who could be readily saved. It was a hellish looking instrument- with two large needles attached only by a one way tube and valve. It was used to give life from one man to another. It was used to transfer futures, by blood. He didn't know how Eugene had gotten it. He didn't particularly want to know.  
Sid took the deepest breath he could. He understood that Eugene needed his blood, and knew there was no point in having two dead bodies on the ridge, when there could have easily been only one.  
He stared up at Eugene, a hint of pride in his glassy gaze. Eugene had learned to make tough decisions and capitalize on opportunity. He wouldn't have made a good mortarman if he hadn't.  
Sid knew that if Eugene had his blood, he would make it off this damn ridge alive. He would make it back to Tallulah. He would make a good husband for her. And he would be a good and fair father to the baby.

Sid nodded towards the syringe and all it's rubber turning, not bothering to ask where Eugene had gotten it.  
"Stick me." He commaned, offering up his arm. "I'm ready."  
Sidney hardly felt the needle slide into his forearm, and under his skin. It didn't compare to the aching, throbbing and burning he felt everywhere else. He closed his eyes, and took another deep breath. Savoring what were surely his final moments. But then Sid felt a new sensation, of something moving into his arm, instead of out of it. A sensation of warm energy surging up his veins. He glanced down in shock at the tube, and watched in horror as Eugene's blood coursed through the piping, and into his arm.  
"No!" Sid yelled, as he attempted to pull the needle and tubing from his arm. "No!"  
Eugene did not need to pin him down, the effort of trying to remove the needle had left Sid wincing and panting, his hands holding the wound on his leg.  
"I was always supposed to die before you, Sid." Eugene whispered. "I told you that when we were kids remember?"  
Sid attempted to swing his head from side to side, signaling his disapproval. "We were kids! It didn't mean nothing." He glared up at Eugene. "Take that thing out of me right now."

It was Eugene's turn to shake his head. "I won't take anything else from her, Sidney. I took everything she thought she knew, and turned it upside down. I took her love for a sip of champagne on new year's, into an affair with any type of alcohol. I took her from being the happiest person I knew; to the most miserable person I'd ever me. " Eugene paused for a moment to gage Sid's reaction, but he just lay there, surprise and blood loss rendering him speechless.  
"And then she got better. Hell, Sid, you made her better. She smiled again. She laughed again. She looked like Tallulah again. And I will not take that away from her." His head twisted around to look at his blood that was flowing into his friend. "Because it's too damn beautiful."  
Sid could only barely nod his agreement. She was, without a doubt, the most beautiful human either of them had ever met.  
"I will not put her through any more heartbreak than I can help. Because it's not just her anymore. It's her, and you, and the baby. You know there's no way in hell I'll let that kid grow up fatherless, not if I can help it." He motioned to the syringe in his arm. "But I can help it. And I choose to save you, and your family."

Sid's voice had turned into a rasp. "You can't do this Eugene."  
Eugene glanced down at his friend who was struggling to remain conscious. "Don't really look like your in much of a position to stop me."  
"This ain't right Eugene. This is crazy."  
"Blood brothers remember?"  
Sid shook his head, the motion voiding him of all energy. "Don't do this. What about yourself?"  
"We can't all be happy, Sid."

With every ounce of strength Si had left, he reached over and attempted to yank the needle from his arm. He succeded in grabbing the tubing and giving it a yank, wish alerted Eugene who had since laid back down.  
"Fucking take it Sid." Eugene roared, as he felt the pain in his legs when he tried to raise himself up to a sitting positions.  
Sid stared up at an angry Eugene, and wondered if would be the last thing he ever saw. "I took everything from you.  
"One of us was going to." Eugene muttered as he placed a hand on Sid's knee.  
"What are you doing?" Sid breathed, as Eugene's bloody hand made it's way to Sid's chest.  
Suddenly, Eugene took two of his fingers and stabbed them deep into Sid's wound. With a horrified yelp, Sid's body convulsed and then collapsed back onto the stone- completely passed out.  
"Saving your life." Eugene grumbled as he lay back, adjusting the needle in his arm.

x.x.x.x

Tallulah was in the supply room, organizing the rows and rows of provisions that were slowly running low. She enjoyed being in the small room. It was still, and dark, and sealed away from the rest of the chaos on the Solace. The room kept her hands busy, and her mind still.

There was a knock on the door, and Tallulah turned around to open it.  
Hisako stood in the doorway, her eyebrows furrowed down on her forehead, wringing her hands together.  
Instantly, Tallulah was alert. She could feel her heart rate rise, and a nervous chill run down her spine.

"What is it?" She breathed, quickly stuffing a box of bandages back on the shelf.  
Hiskao's lips moved around for a moments before she spoke, as if she was having a hard time forming her words.  
"I don't know how to tell you this…"  
"No." Tallulah shook her head fearfully.  
"The 1st Marines tried to take a ridge this morning."  
"No." She could feel her head shaking faster.  
"There were many casualties."  
"No." Her voice was a whimper now, a plea, a prayer for her not to continue.  
"Sid and Eugene were both hit."

Tallulah's mouth fell open, and the sound that left her lips was an echo.  
It was her heartbreak when Eugene left.  
It was the container after container of alcohol she had consumed in an effort to forget  
It was the cartons and carton of cigarettes she had smoked in an effort to burn away lips that he had kissed.  
It was her modeling career, and baring her legs and her breasts for a whole organization of men who didn't even know her.  
It was the burnt sailor on the troop ship who had no face.  
It was Sid leaving on a train for war, and not knowing if she would ever see him again.  
It was her father's disapproval, as he saw his daughter's legs spread open.  
It was that horrible movie, that itchy wig, and that dammed director yelling at her.  
It was bottle and bottles of pills she ingested in an effort to remain calm.  
It's was Tom's charred corpse, that still talked to her in her sleep.  
It was Ryland's wounds, and his speechlessness he would never recover from.  
It was separation from Sidney.  
It was her pregnancy, a gift given at an impossible time.  
It was Hisako's quiet sadness, that she had no idea if her husband was still alive.  
It was her hatred of honor.  
It was John's torn chest, and her inability to make him whole again.  
It was the baby inside her that was aching to be born.  
It was Sid dying, and Eugene dying.  
It was everything, and it was everything all the time.

And it was the loudest scream she had ever heard, and it was her own.  
The sound tore through the ward, and bounced off all the walls, and back into her ears, hurting her head. It went on and on and on until it all dried up, and her screaming became rasping. And rasping became crying. And her crying became a collapse that left her on the floor, kneeling.

That was when she felt it- painful pang low in her abdomen, a crushing in her midsection, and burst of water from between her legs.

And she screamed once more.


End file.
